The _savant_, for example, procured an animal
evidently of the cat tribe, and another species like a polecat. He knew
as a fact that the feline teeth had a certain structure, and that the
dental formula of the viverrine animals is different. Here, then, he
could distinguish and perhaps name the species; but what more was to be
done? All natural history as a study seemed to end in classifying and
giving long names to plants and animals. The Evolution theory at once
gave it a new object. Why is the dental formula of the _viverrinae_
different? What purpose has the long spur in the flower of _Angraecum_,
or the marvellous bucket of _Coryanthes_, the flytrap of _Dionaea_, the
pitcher of _Nepenthes_? What is the cause, what is the purpose, what is
the plan in the scheme of nature, of these structures? Under the
stimulus of such questions naturalists woke up to new views of
classification, to new experiments, inquiries, and to research for facts
and the explanation of facts, in all quarters of the globe. No wonder
that science rose, under such an impulse, as a butterfly from its
chrysalis. But some will not be satisfied with any scheme the parts of
which are separated, or which admits of anything unknown or
unexplainable. They want to unite all into one grand and simple whole,
which glorifies their own intelligence, and does not force them to
humble patience and waiting for more light.
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