New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-17
ANIMAL CELEBRATION.
PROBLEMS THAT ARE NOT TO BE SOLVED
BY NATURAL SELECTION.

ANIMAL COLORAT1oN. An account Of the principal
facts and theories relating TO the colors and mark
in the Geological society. Of London, etc. Illus
trated. PIP. vi. 2ss. Macmillan e. Co.
AT every step, in fact, in the study of animal
celebration we are met with closed doors, which
can only be unlocked by keys furnished by an
intimate chemical and physiological knowledge
such as we do not at present possess One has
to read about one hundred and forty pages Of
Mr. Beddard's book before he reaches this golden
sentence. but the emphasis of II is all the greater
because the mind has been led up 10 it BY the
arguments and examples that precede. Thus. at
q stroke, considerable body of imaginative litera-
ture in which the title role played by that
necromantic hero, Natural Selection, has been cut
down TO something like its due and proportionate
value. The "open sesame which disclosed one
Of Natures secret enclosures has not sufficed to
explore its hidden recesses.
The sentence quoted contains in a sense the
keynote of the whole book which, from end to
end is a healthy and vigorous protest against the
magical tendency that lies near, and is so
dangerous TO, natural science. Not that the
author has shown any Consciousness of the wider
application of his study in facts and theories.
If he was observaht on this point, he has care
fully, and probably with good reason, kept the
thought to himself Perhaps it did nct occur
TO him. General tendencies are more likely to
he observed by outsiders than by those who are
busy In the work Of minute investigation. In the
matter of scientific speculation, the Intelligent
looker-on must see that there is imminent danger
of the Troublesome of thaumaturgy as absurd
as that which disgraced the closing years of Greek
philosophy. Real men of science will no more
indulge such nonsense now than their predecessors
did then. But the half-learned and the wholly
ignorant, mOuthipg in vain repetition the sup
posed shibboleths of science, may make know Hedge
a byword. Every book, then, that keeps thought
from stagnating around some imperfect or ILL
understood formula is TO be heartily welcomed.
Mr. Beddard approaches his theme with canton.
He is evidently eager to concede to the now
classical theory of natural selection all that the
facts as he views them will warrant His apology
for his work is not that he has a controversial
purpose, but simply that other important and
popular works the subject Of animal coloration.
particularly those of Mr.. Poulton and Mr.. Wallace,
deal with the subject from the point of view
and he desired to lay stress on other aspects
of the question: The volume is addressed not 10
specialists but is intended 10 crafty the interest
in the problems of zoology which is 80 wide
spread at the present day. Hence, there arc no
very obtrusivc tcchncalities, certainly none that
a good dictionary will not enable one 10 translate
into more familiar language.
as if they meant scientifically the thing. In
the case Ct animals that are of uniform tint, con-
fusion between the two words is of no importance
but when il comes to creatures in which a variety
of colors appears then the distinctive word color
alton is indispensable TO mark the fact OF ctnl-
trast and arrangement. The immediate cause OF
colOrs in animals is the presence OF some pigment
in the surface or beneath the surface that can be
seen, the scattering, difraction or refracton
of light. Even in the latter case, pigment APP
pears to be a nece ssary though not the more, OBJ
vious factor in coloratiOn. While some pigments
are widely diStribute1-for instance, the one that
coors the earthwOrm and reddens the blood of man
colors that appear the same 10 the eye may be
produced by pigments which are chemically very
diverse from each other. The green feathers Of
the turacou and the parrot are eolored BY sub
stances totally unlike. On the other hand. ami
mails which have the same colorSubstance exhibit
different hues as in the case Of male and female
among certain parrots. variation in the guam
tity of pigment almost necessarily produces a
variation in color, and animals that are devoid
CT il are practically transparent. In the cases
where the coloring substance is physiological
necessity to the animal with certain rcd worms
(oigochoeta it is obvious that the color. whether
OF advantage or not to the animal in the way
of concealmcnt, must remain unchanged. thus,
one strikes field at once from which natural
selection is excluded The substance called
haemoglobin plays the chief part in respiration.
Without it. animals would die for want of oxygen.
Yet it renders vast numbers of creatures In the
group Of annelids fatally and irremediably con-
spcuous In all green plants and many animals,
there is substance called chloropbyl the Office Of
which is 10 separate carbonic acid into the carbon
and oxygen that necessary TO the processes OF
life. A certain orange red pigment, s widely dis
tributed that 1t Is found in groups 80 diverse as
birds and spongeS, appears to figure very largely
in the work Of respiration Changes in the color
produced by such indispensable substances could
hardly occur without being fatal TO the animal, no
matter how inconvenient the color might be-
Another point is that cooration, with few
notable exceptions, appears TO be uniform and con-
stant not only among the members OF gwen
species, but even throughout the wider range OF
genera and families. Such constancy evidently
leaves very limited possibility for the operation
of natural selection, which, in the nature OF the
case. presumes on an infinite variation as the ma
terisl TO work upon. Nevertheless, in this wide
view of the animal kingdom it is easy to suppose
that natural selection has acted in the past to
produce the notifications which are now found
TO be constant. This argument based on sup
posed Indications of former state Of affairs can
as Mr.. Beddard says, mo more be refuted than
those Of the believers in special creation" The
reason is that in both cases the point in dispute
has been taken out of the realm of observation
and relegatcd to that Of imagination. But even
this possibility of harmonizing the theory Of nat
ural selection with the facts is excluded from those
innumerable cases in which changes in color can
DO adequately accounted for by conditions ex-
ternal to the animal II the color OF particular
imal and not that of other animals, changes in cap
tivity; if animals, otherwise the same exhibit
local diferences-if for example, sea-urchins
brittle stars and starfish which are commonly no,
green and must find it far from being protect