, 1876-11-11

oil tnc tldN.
The development Of geological study
in this country presents itself under two
aspects. The first and earliest was the
period when its yotarics busted them
selves with making an inventory OF an
mals and plants, and arranging them
under schedules Of genera, species, and
varieties. Very necessary work was this.
Professor Agassiz, likcncd it 10 the labor
of bringing together the stones and
bricks for Il building. But these work
ers piled up their materials thus accu-
mu lated till they Shut out the light OF
knowledge, and offered barrier to those
who would have built the cdiiice OF the
science itself. The words of Emerson
describing science in England in lS41
were true of this country at u later date
"One hermit finds this fact, another
finds that, and lives and dies ignorant
of its value" The change from tins pc
riod of preparation to one of direct work
in building up the science OF zoology
dates from the arrival of Professor Agas-
sia in this country and the vast popular
interest which attended his efforts to
kindIe the growth Of knowledge. These
efforts were largely directed toward clc-
waiting the character and aims Of the pa.
pers contributed to our learned societies,
and the success he met with was rs note
worthy here as in the arena where he
was more generally known to the public.
Professor Agassiz made men. Previous
ly they had been the slaves of their
science, the mere hewcrs Of wood and
and drawers Of water lie taught Amer
leans what Cuvicr, Won Bacr, and Lculi-
art had been doing, He urged, indeed,
his hearty protests against evolution
theories, but thereby he did good service
in awakening attention to the subject
and compelling further inquiry. Since
then all the students whom he educated
personally have, with scarcely an eXcep-
tion, become converts to those theories.
The first clear premonition Of the doc.
trine OF natural selection came from this
country, or rather from an American,
William Charles Wells, born at Charles
ton, S. G., in 1857 This appears in a
paper which he read in 1918 before the
Royal Society. 1t profiers an cXplana-
nation of the color of dark skinned races
Of men. He cites the changes Of animals
under domestication, shows that varieties
men and animals were oC curing exception
ally but constantly; that different breeds
Of animals were thus obtained by mans
selective supervision that similar Sc.
lection among men had been effected 10y
the comparative immunity from certain
diseases of those who had dark skins.
As evidences of the transmission of
species, Professor Morse here cited the
instances where the seeds of Alpine
plants sown in warmer regions gradually
produced plants that had previously
been regarded as of different species.
A kind OF crustacean was similarly
changed from one recorded species to
another by gradually freshcning the
briny water in which it lived in slowly
altering thus 1t actually lost one OF its
segments. Mr.. James Lewis discovered
that truncatc form of musse which
had thus been distinguished from an.
other form had taken its peculiar shape
from the circumstances to which it had
been exposed; namely, the abrasion of
its edges and consequent retarding Of its
growth in the rapid currents Of the Mo-
hawk River; he also made similar OBJ
seryations on other mOllusks under other
influences. A. G.. Wetherby called at
tention to changes OF the kind in snGils
under like surroundings, Professor
Agassiz urged that what are called wa
rieties' by naturalists do not really exist
separately. He found n series Of echn-
oderms in which the forms were graded
insensibly from one to the other. The
eXtremities of the series would have
been called distinct species Professor
Parsons suggested that species might be
done away with if all intermediate forms
should be discovered; and Doctor Gray
Expressed the belief that all species
might be thus eventually resolved into
varieties. Doctor j. G. Cooper, ant
M.,.,. Gt.,.,,, Dlool ,,I n,,nn,, al