It is almost superfluous to say
that no "new species" originating in modern times has ever justified
itself under these tests.
[Footnote 31: Some of our leading biologists are now disposed to grow
somewhat humorous when speaking of this mutation theory of de Vries, as
may be illustrated by the following:
"The mutation theory of de Vries appears accordingly to lag useless on
the biological stage, and may apparently be now relegated to the limbo
of discarded hypotheses.... The present refutation has been undertaken
in the interest of biological progress in this country. It is now high
time, so far as the so-called mutation hypothesis, based on the conduct
of the evening primrose in cultures, is concerned, that the younger
generation of biologists should take heed lest the primrose path of
dalliance lead them imperceptibly into the primrose path to the
everlasting bonfire."--Prof. Edw. C. Jeffrey (Harvard), in _Science_,
April 3, 1914.]
In conclusion it may be remarked that biologists do not claim to have
solved all the problems connected with heredity and variation. But the
general results taught us by Mendelism are now established beyond
controversy. Led by the German biologists, the leading scientists of the
world had already acknowledged that "pure" Darwinism or natural
selection cannot explain the origin of new organs or new forms.
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