STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1882.

THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION.

[By T. W. Leys.]

THE evil consequences of starting with a theory and then hunting for evidence to support it, are not confined to those strained deductions from isolated fucts, which, as we have seen, comprise the stock-in trade of the Darwinian, but the mind becomes bliDded to the true and natural inferences from phenomena which nrc not exceptional but universal in Nature. Nothing could more forcibly deraonstra'c this proposition than the confidence with which evolution ists advance, as arguments in their favour, the uniform characteristics of certain struc tures in widely different animals. In the very oldest fossiliferous strata, said Mr Deutou, in his lecture on "The Origin of Man," wo see the limbs of the starfish as suming the hvc-fingcred form, or if not five, fifteen, or some multiple of five ; so this number five crops out all through the ages -we have it now iv the foot and wing of ' the bird, in the wing of the bat, in tbe flipper of the whale, and in the hand of man. As the rouuda of applause followed this startling evidence of identity, we were irresistibly reminded of that other mystic number, six hundred and sixty-six—the mark of the beast — which an in genious writer in recent years manipu lated with so much dexterity that thousands of worthy simple-minded people were induced to identify Napoleon 111. as the veritable beast ot the Apocalyp>e, and tbe "Destined Monarch of ihe ■World." But Napoleon is dead, and with him iied the hopes and fears of ihe believers in his glory and infamy ; so, too, many of us will live to see this doctrine of descent banished from the earth by the concentrated force of human intelligence. and by tho return of scientific men from the region of idle speculation to the safe paths of exact observation aud utilitarian re search. The five-fingered argument was advanced by Darwin in his "Origin'of Species" in these words: "How inexplicable is th* similar pattern of the hand of a man, the foot of a dog, the wing of a bat, the flip per of a seal, ou the doctrine of independent acts of creation I How simply explained on the principle of the natural selection of successive alight variations in the diverging descendaiti from a single progenitor." A Creat >r, it will bd observed, should, in Mr Darwin's opinion, have adopted, ia every creature of his handiwo-k, an entirely new design for o gaus dis charging the same functions. But, not to dwell upon this point, let us read on to le >ro the "simple explanation " of the evolution ist, Here it is: "We may further venture to believS that the bones in ihe limbs of tbe morlkey, horse, and bat, were originally de veloped on the principle of utility, probably through the reduction of more numerous hones in the Jin, of some ancient fah-like progenitor of tlio whole class." How very simple 1 Then, the five-lingered criuoids of the old Laurentian times lost the mystic number by natural selection in " the more numerous bones in the fia of some ancient fish," and then the "more numerous bones" were reduced down again on the " prin ciple of utility" to the original five which VT were found to answer equally well iv the wing of a bat and the hand of a man, Would anyone, not arguing from a foregone con clusion, have advanced an explanation so preposterous? On what "principle of utility" are five ribs in the bats wing of more value than ten; or five fingers m >re useful than any other number in the flipper of the seal 1 Is there, indeed, a single phy siological fact to prove that a man could not hare got through life with as much ease and comfort with four or six toes as

with five? We state, unhesitatingly, that there is no such fait. Could there, then, he anything more fatal to the doctrine of evolution than this very uniformity of structure in individuals whose several characteristics are so widely differentiated. Is it conceivable that if the law of variation had been exercised upon the offspring cf any single progenitor tor the production of a map, a hat, a seal and a dog, this non essential framework could have heea pre served in each without variation? How

beautifully, however, is this evidence of uniform design—so fatal to any theory of development through countless variations— interpreted by Agassiz: "It exhibits everywhere the working of the same creative mind, through all times, and upon the whole surface of the globe." In his

" Essay of Classification," Agassiz snp. ports this position with many conviocicg observations upon the relations of species to their surrounding condition", and to each

other. The same idea is ably argued by the Duke of Argyle iv " The Reign of Law."

But Mr Darwin in his later years.and Mr Huxley, his chief disciple, sooa perceived the dilemma in which a uniformity without essential utility inevitably landed the doctrine of Natural Selection. It was this discovery that led Mr Huxley to speak of the argument from unused structures as "two-edged," aud compelled Mr Uarwin to modify the claims he had originally ad vanced on behalf ot Natural Selection as the all-potent factor ia the evolution of species. One simple example more striking even than that just mentioned will explain tbe difficulty. It cannot be supposed—nor

will any Darwinian dare to contend—that the present relations of the sexes in the propagation of species have not dated back to a period prior to the earliest vertebrate progenitor, and before the dawn of mam malian life ou the earth. Why then are mammary organs, whi«h ore not, and never can have been, of use to the male, preserved in his structure ? Darwin, as we shewed in our last paper, confesses there is no answer lrora the ethics of evolution to questions like this, which ore explained with bo much ease, simplicity, and overwhelming force by the theory of design in the mind of the great Architect of the Universe. Impossible as it is for Mr Darwin to re pair these breaks in the chain of his argu taent, even granting him all his premises, fcow much wilder would be tbe attempt if the spontaneous generation contended for by Professor Hieckel were conceded. That countless germs of life, springing spontaneously out of matter, should have evolved a uniformity in animal structure coming within the possibility of any sort of classification, is utterly incredible. But we soothe plan of One Creative Mind indeliblyutamped upon ail animated Nature,

and no variation can ever remove it. The fish of the Mammoth Cave, dwelling in everlasting darkness, may become sightless, but tho eye remains to testify to its unity with the whole species ; and thousands of organs—useless iv an evolutionary sen<e, unaccountable as the producdons of Natu ral Selection, violating in it* first principles the cardinal theory of the Darwinists—are propagated with unfailing uniformity, age after age, producing perfect order amid tho infinite variety ot exquisite forms aud colours, and the perfection of an inexhaust ible loveliness. Can anyone consider these thing* rationally with ut agreeing with Oscar Pesi-.hel that " it is just the new pith of the Darwiuian doctrine—namely, Natu ral Seleciion—which still remains unac. credited.'' * SPONTAN-OUS OKNBKVTION. It is scarcely worth while to pursue fur ther the claims advanced on behalf of SNpooUneou* Generation. Professor Tyn dall's crushing reply to Dr, Bastian ends emphatically tho contention that there is, up to this moment, one tittle of reliable evidence in favour of inert matter evolving organic life. The fact that Proies^or the ckel—so prolific in theories—has fallen back mainly upon an iogeuiom invention of his own, known as " carbon generation," shows how frail is the straw to which tho believers in spontaneous generation franti cally cling. Of course if any man chooses to say with Hicckel, " Though you prove to demonstration that under no conceivable conditions can life be generated spontane ously now, yet 1 shall still maintain that fifty milljou years ago, before the loose carbon was deposited in the coal measures, spontaneous generation might havo been possible," all argument must end, for science departs into a thing of wild ocliefs, and it is idle to follow it. Up to the 17th century spontaneous generation was uni versally accepted. Men saw life springing up wherever conditions were favourable, and they never doubted that heat and moisture gave vitality to the dissolving atoms. But closer observation placed it beyond doubt that the life was the product of egg 3or seeds, either deposited by insects or collected from myriads of germs floating in the air. Since then, it has been well said, spontaneous generation has retreated further and further with every enlarge ment of the power of the microscope. The smallest animalcule, it has been found,is possessed of a well-defined organism, and reproduces creatures after its kind by a simple form of self-propagation. Professor Haickel, emboldened to move out of his safe retreat in the "carbon theory," has advanced a minute marine animalcule, the moneron, which he says possesses only one cell, and might therefore possibly exhibit an organism springing direct from matter. But he is obliged to admit that even this humble creature propagates by self-division, and he does not pretend to say that he ever saw any speck of matter transmute itself into one of those simple torms of life. The theory of spontaneous generation is one that may perhaps serve its turn in the speculative lecture room for want of a better, but we should like to see ths face of the lecturer if his gardener were to excuse himself for a slovenly seed bed on the dogma of " spontaneity," and hear the retort upon any seedsman who should venture to try the lecturer's theory as an excuse for tbe mysterious choking of good turnip seed by a spontaneous evolution of noxious weeds. The scientific tests applied to spontaneous generation have been of the most extended and careful character. Pro fessor scualze (Berlin) records an experi ment in which a vesacl, prepared under conditions favourable for the production of life, was kept closed from the 28th of May till the beginning of August, and no animal or vegetable organism was produced, but within two days after the flask was opened, animalculro ap peared in abundance. Many experiments of the same character were made by Pro fessor Tyndall, al tending to prove that the very lowliest form of life cannot be produced witiout the introduction of germs in air or water. Tbe results of the latest of these experiments were laid before the Royal Institution at this year's feries of " before Easter" lectures. Within the la*t three months we have received from Professor Lionel rseale, F.R.S., Presi dent of the Microscopical Society (18SI), the most emphatic testimony upon this sub ject, and there we may safely leave it. In an address delivered before the Victori (Philosophical) Institute, Loudon, on the loth ot May last, he said: — " I would draw attention to the declaration again and again repeated, and now taught even to children, that tha living and the non-living differ only in degree, that the living has been evolved by degrees from the non-living, and that "the latter passes by gridations towards the former state. No one has adduced, any evidence in proof of these conclusions, which are, in fact, dictatorial assertions only, and no specimen of any kind of matter which is actually passing from the non-living to the living state, or which can bs shown to establish any con nexion between these absolutely different conditions of matter, has been, or can be at this time, brought forward. Between purely vital and purely physical actions not the faiutest analogy has been shown to exist. The living world is absolutely distinct from the non-liVing world, and, instead of being a necessary outcome of it, H, compared with the antiquity of matter, probably a very recent addition to it,—not, of course, an addition of mere transformed or modified matter and energy, but of transcendant power conferred on matter, which controls, regulates, and manages both matter and its forces according, it may be. to laws, but not the laws of inert matter." Evoldtion Refuted by the Fauna of j jnew Zealand and Australia. In his lecture on the " Origin of Man," Mr Denton, introducing one of those stray local allusions which were wedged into the stereotyped text ti give tue material fresh ness, ventured to string a shaft most fatal to himself. Alluding to the total absence of quadrupeds native to New Zealand, he said :" If animals were created, why were none created for New Zealand?" He appears, however, to have hardly felt the ground sate, for in hit previous delivery of the same lecture ha attempted to account for this very singular feature in the fauna of New Zealand by asserting—and there is nothing like a bold front when such statements are advanced — that it wae what might have been expected from the geological age of the conntry. In a full report of his lecture in Christchnrch on "The Age of Beasts aud the Advent of Man " we find this passage-: " Australia in its animals was behind other

paits of the world, which he attriontcd to its smaller size aud position. New Zea land was eveu moro backward than Aus tralia, as it was smaller and more isolated " The question of tho geological age of New Zealand may bs dismissed in a few sentences. That the country has existed from the remotest ages was positively affirmed by that veteran geologist, l»r. Hochstetter, and is abundautly proved by innumerable geological facts. We do not know a single authority ou tbe subject who affirms anything else. And if the question were tested on purely evolutionary ethic, it would require considerable daring to assert tint the ages necessary to develop the moa from n monad would nut suffice for the evolution of a kangaroo. A new light, however, has been thrown upon the geolo gical history of New Zealand by the researches of Mr A. K. Wallace. Ia that interesting little work, "Island Life," he contends with great force that the charac teristics of the New Zealand vegetation prove these islands to be the vestiges of a large Pacific continent extending in a nortb-westcrly direction, and uniting ia one mass of land, New Zealand, Northern Aus tralia, and Now Guinea. New Zealand, therefore, is not only a geologically ancient country, but it is the preserved remnant of a vast continent. Why were its rich virgin land-i untenanted by animal life? Ibe answer to those who believo iv a creation is easy and reasonable. Creation had a centre, and Revr Zealand, cut off from that centre at an early geological period, shares with other islands of the Pacific the absence of every species of quadruped. But what answer can the evolutionist make ? The founder of the doctrine of evolution, Lamarck, at the close of last century, longed for some ancient specimen of the domesti cated dog to demonstrate his theory ; the tombs of Egypt gratified the wish only to contound him. More recent disciples have rummaged in the bowels of the earth for some primitive skull to prove man's ignob'e ancestry, nnd the remains of palaeolithic man have extorted the confession that he possessed a cranium that might have "be longed to a philosopher." If a council of philosophers were assembled now for the purpose of devising a practical test of evolution tor the guidance of man a million years hence, what would they do but set apart some land in which the conditions are specially favourable for tbe generation of life, and after depositing the germs, leave the country to develop its own fauna. In New Zealand, we have such a country/re served from a time long anterior to the earliest appearance of mammalian life on the p'anet. In no country under the sun do animals of every kind multiply more rapidly or attain proportions so magnificent. If it is urged that the climate might, in past ages, have been less kindly, we reply that the vegetation and remains of coral formations afford evidence in tbe other direction. Why, then, has not evolntion done its work ? " Oh," replies some one, '•perhaps the germs were not there." Lst us see. Shall we go deep down to tho Secondary Formation ? If so, in the mica ceous sandstone cliffs of Waikato Mouth Head and Kawhia, Hochstetter found cephalopods of the genera Ammonite and Belemnite identical with those of Old World celebrity. But that, perhaps, is too far back; well, let us try tho Tertiary strata. Why.here are foramioifcra common to the Arctic Ocean, the Saetlands, the Bivcr Dee.theboulderclays of Cheshire, the North Atlantic, and the mioceue strata of Yarra Yarra (Victoria)-shells fossilised in the miocene strata that have still direct des cendants living in tha Mediterranean. But, perhaps, none of these contained the germ of a mammal. What, then, of the fishes that swarm our coasts in Flioah ? There were flat-fish groping tor food along tbe mad banks, eels wriggling in the river slimes; was none enterprising enough to differ entiate its fins into legs and walk ashore ? What of those hoofed auimals gone astray —the whales and the seals which disported themselves along our coast; was there no temptation to resume their aborted limb 3 and browse upon the native grasses ? Or the birds-did no latent tendency move them to vary into flying squirrels and monkeys? "Yes, but," interposes some one, " what about those birds ? Uow did they get here." Well,Mr Wallace.though an evolutionist, thinks it more probable from their characteristics that they flew here than that they reached the country m any other way. Birds unknown previously in New Zealand have made their appearance by migration within the last f jw years, " But the moa. it could not fly ?" No, but Mr Wallace frankly acknowledges that there is a very much simpler explanation of its presence than any idea of solitary development. He says : "So far as account ing for the presence of wingless birds in New Zealand is concerned, we have nothing whatever to do with any poisible connection by way of a Southern continent or Antarctic island with South America, and South Africa, because the nearest allies of its moas and kiwis,are the cassowaries and emus, and wa have distinct indications of ' a former land extension towards worth Aus tralia and -> ew Guinea, which is exactly what we require for the original entrance ot the struthious typo into New Zea land." Again, " the ancestral stru thious type may, like the marsupial, have once spread over the larger portion of ths globe. . . . They are present still in Africa-and in New Zealand being isolated they may thus have been preserved." f There is no refuge left for the evolutionist but his favourite resort—assertion, and to this he readily betakes bim<e'L New Zea land is tea insignificant a theatre for these marvels of evolution to have been per formed upon its soil. One might have supposed that time and favourable climatic conditions were everything, but it appears that there is something in area. The objection can hirdly apply to tbe dimen sions of the Pacific Ocean for the develop ment of the aucestnl fish; we presume, therefore, that before takiag to itself legs, and crawling ashore, it had a careful survey made of the dimensions of the land it pro posed to populate, aud finding Ncw^Zca laud too natrow for its philanthropic efforts, it spurned the climate so highly prized by its po-terity, and turned away to other countries. Well, suppose we concede the point, aud givo New Zealand up; is Australia large enough? It comprises an area of 3 000,000 square miles, has a coast line of 8,000 miles, and varieties of climate from the torrid to the temperate. What has it developed? "The kangaroos, of course," we hear. Stop a little; the marsupials are the very lowest form ot mammalia, and made their appearance on the earth in the triassic period, when they were not peculiar to Australia but were spread over the

greater part of the globe. Why, then, have they continued the only rcprcsentiitivcs of mammalia that are found on this v.i-t continent? Mr Wallace supplies ns «ith the only explanation the evolutionist bus to give :—"The marsupfnlia and mono i trcmata arc probabably the representa tives of the lowest organised typos of minimal. They once existed in tin north ern continents, whence the// spread into Australia, and being isolated and pre- Hcrved from tbe competition of tbe higher foniH which soon arose in other parts of thu world, they hare developed into a variety of types, which, however, still preserve a gmernl uniformity of organisation. One family which continued to oxist in Europe iv tbe Miocene period reached America, uud has there bean preserved till our day. "J Wc are to understand, then, that tlio isolation of the Australian continent, by an inter vening bca at a very early period, cut ol! all access to those higher mammalia which somehow "soon arose" eii-cwherc, and Australia biing lelt with marsupials only, has never been able to get beyond them. On examining the Dar winian genealogical tree, however, we tind the matsupialia placed as the unutterably "great, great grandfather of every species of mammals. Lipcs of descent leading out from him give us be-sts of prey, seals, whales, bats, iusectivora, elephants, monkeys, men, and animals of every shape and colour. How is it that no Australian marsupial was disposed to differentiate into a man or an elephant? One member of the family managed to reach tlio dimensions of a rhinocer ous, as attested by his fossil bone?, but he remained a marsupial to the end of the chapter, and bis huge proportions did not savo him from the fate of the monsters that were simultaneously wandering over tho rest of the planet,which ought iv any strug gle for life to have destioyed all other rivals. Is it credible that if the tendency to vary and produce new species was latent iv the marsupials of Asia, it wus absent from tha same animal existing in the same geologic il period on the continent of Australia? To ask us to believe anything of the kind is to seek an .assent against reascn for a propositiou which is disproved by tho absolute test of experience—to accept a mere speculation against the plainest evidence. Tho marsu plalian ancestry of the whole family of mammals is not simply iraprobablo—it is disproved ; and witli it go all tho theories that have been hung upon it. In our next paper we shall sum up tho series.

Let the Ass Stand.

One of the dryest American jokers of the day is Judge Allen A. Bradford, of the Pueblo Bar. Ho is a little ecccutric, hut withal one of the best lawyers in the Far West. Ho was conducting a case a few years since before a judge to whom he took a dislike. The judge was undecided iv his rulings; would change his conclusions every time the opposite lawyer would argue a point. When Bradford came to talK to the jury ho took occasion to express his contempt. Said he: "Gentlemen of the jury, the indecision of this Court reminds mc of the fabled ass that died between two bundles of straw for want 'of decision." The Court could stand this no longer. Calling the attorney to order, he lined him 5 dols. for contempt. With ihe coolness he is capable of, Bradford felt in his pocket for a moment, then producing 2 dols, 50 cents., said ill his peculiar intonation of voice: "Your Honour, I have but half the amount. I will pay for the straw, but lot the ass stand."

A Case of Immersion.

A BAPTIST MINISTEU WHO INSULTED A

GOOD liADY,

I heard yesterday from unquestionable authority a good story of the Rev. Thomas K. Bccclier, which is quite too good for private circulation. When he first went to Elmira, a jjood many years ago, he was somewhat tree aud easy in his theology, holding, as he still holds, that the life was more than the creed, and the deportment more than the doflinn, One day a woman called and said she wanted to join his church. "Very well," ho said, "come in; glad to see you."

" But," she said, " I must he immersed." "I can't duck you all over," he explained; " no dish big enough." " Well," she repeated, iv a troubled frame of mind, " 1 must be immersed all over; I have been redding the Bible, and I am sure the teaching is that we must he entirely immersed."

"Then go and join Brother HodgsorVs church," he suggested, " they have a bap tistry up there, and there isn't any vital difference between us and the Biiptists."

" No," said she, "my friends arc hero in your church ; I want to be with them." He pondered over it awhile, and then said: "See here, suppose you go up and see Brother Hodgson, and tell him to im merse you to that you can come and join

us." So she went and spoke after that manner,

" Did Mr Beecher tell you to come up here for that? ' asked the irate Hodgson in a loud voice. She affirmed that such was his suggestion. "Very well!" exclaimed the affronted Baptist, getting warmer and warmer as be thought of the highly audacious proposi tion ; " very well! very well I You go back ana tell Beeehu' that he's mistaken if he thinks I am going to do his dirty work." Tne lady iled in terror. That evening her husband called on the Rev. Hodgson to de mand satisfaction. " No, sir I I won't sit down I" he answered, as he came into the miuislcr's presence ; "did you speak of the immers'on of my wife as dirty work ? that is what I want to know !" and he slammed on the table and doubled up the two lingers of his right hand as if about to wring tiie clerical nose with them. Mr Hodgsonbjeked to the other corner of the room, near the open door, and explained that he meant no offence; he merely meant, etc., etc. Ibe did no; intend, etc., etc. ; in a Pickwickian scuse, and for the dignity of his denomina tion, etc., etc.; hue he would be most happy, etc., etc. " No! I'll be d—hanged if you do I ex claimed tbe wrath-stricken visitor, jamming the door with his fitt, " You'lLuever put a teaapoonful of water on any of my family. And you indulge in any more sideway re marks and I'll' dirty work' you I" And he

slammed his hut down over his eyes, uttered a growl of unsatisfied anguish, wont home nnd earned all his folks over to Heechcr _ church, "dip or no dip," as he expressed it.

Humorous.

Froo-bootcrs, — Men who kick. A Strong Man.- A shop-lifter, llille Practice. -Pocket-picking, A Stage Whisper.—Theatrical gos-ip. Expensive Living.—Jiving on excite ment.

A mau with large feet never stands upon trillee.

Matchl&JS Maid. The kitchen girl out of lad/era. What bom produces tbe most discordant music ?—The drinking-horn.

The man who stumbles twice on the same stone is a fool.

Cut and Deal—We know a party—in fact, several parties-who <lo«l lirst (with their tailo>) and cut afterwards ! <j o ]d — " Ah, parson, I wish I could ti.kc my gold with mo," said a dying man to his pastor. " It might melt," was llic consoling answer.

How is it, thai a lieutenant-colonel afler a good {dinner finds that lie lias gained a step in promotion ?—Because he is then a lull colonel.

Mrs Partington says that on Christmas day she allows Ike to " till himself to his inmost rapacity. ' When the enterprising butcher's assistant " set up on his own hook " did lie hud it a comfortable feat?

" If I punish you," said a mamma to her little girl, "you don't suppose that 1 do so for my own pleasure, do you?" Then whose pleasure is it for, mamma . " Sterne used to say, "The mostaccom« plished way of using books is to serve them as most people iln lords—learn their titles, aud then bmg of their acquaintance." A good ola Quaker lady, after li-tening to the extravagant yarn of a per-on as long as her patience would allow, said to him, "Friend, what a pity it is a sin to li*, wiicn it scoins so necessary to your happiuess !"

An eminent scientist says that when a lady cannot sit down without her no-e be coming red it shows that there is imperfect circulation of the blood, caused by tight lacing. Same with gentlemen, A red nose is a Mire sign of tightness .somewhere. Not long since a young man applied for permission to teach in a school, and, utterly failing in the necessary examination, (was finally asked when it was that Napohon Bonaparte nourished—before or after the conquest? Afler meditating some time, he replied, "You have got me this tune, gen tlemen !" "How do yon feci with such a shockintr* looking coat on?" said a young clerk tl sonio pretensions one morning to on old one, " I feel," said the old man, looking at him steadily wifti one eye half closed, as if taking aim at his victim, " I feel as if 1 hail a coat on which I had paid for, a luxury of feeling which I thiuk you will ucver expc» ri-oncc I "

A Suitable Preacher.

One of the May magazines relates the fol lowing story : -The Faculty of a large theo logical seminary in the United States re ceived a letter, in which tho inhabitants of a small town in Kansas applied to them for a young clergyman, to take care of their spiri tual interests. The formidable array of qualifications which the minister must pos sess, and the extremely meagre salary at tached to the position, put tlio good doctors of tire Faculty imo something akin to dcs« pair. Aftei much thought, one suggested Unit the reply .should run thus : " The only man of whom we know who could satisfy you is our revered college prcidcot, now dead some few years, and who, having accus tomed himself to heavenly food (air), could perhaps eke out a hare subsistence upon the salary you propose." This, afler due de liberation, was rejected, and the next pro posal was listened to ;—" Wc know of no one, except the apostle Paul, who ap proaches to your standard of piety ;he might preach of a Sunday, and get his living by sail-making on two week days." This too was rejected, aud the following reply was finally despatched: "We know of no man good enough for you, or who could possibly live on the salary you men tion. We therefore advise you to make an effort to secure the angel Gabriel, who could hoard in heaven, and come down Oft Sundays to preach."

A Newly-Married Couple.

A YOUHG HUSBAND WHO COULD NOT BE

TRIFLED WITH

A COUPLE left the train at the Union depot and walked up Jefferson avenue yesterday. She had long curls and a pink dres< and a yellow sash, and bo bad a long collar saw ing his ears off, a buttonhole bouquet and a pair of new boots freshly greased and ono size too small. They hadn't walked two blocks when they came to a man sitting on a box in front of a store, and as he caught sight of them a grin crept over his face like molasses spreading out on a shingle. " Grinning at us, I s'pose ?" queried the young maD, as he came to a halt. " Yes," frankly replied the sitter. " Tickles you most to death to see us take hold of hands, don't it ?" '- " It does." '' And you imagine you can see us feeding; each other caramels, can't you." " I can." " And you shake all over at the way we gawp around aud keep our mouths open ?" " Tiut's me." "Well, this is me! I'm not purty, and I haven't been cultivated between the rows, nor hilled up nor fertilized. I ain't what, you call stall-fed, and the old man looks twenty per cent, worse than I do, but, it won't take mc over a minute to jam you seven feet into the ground I I told Lucy I was going to begin on the lirst man who looked cross-eyed at us, and you arc the chap. Prepare to be pulverised I" "Beg pardon, but I didn't mean—! " " Yes, you did . Lucy, hold my hat while I mop him !" " Say—hold ou—say I" He took up the middle of ihe street like a runaway horse, and the young man took after him, but it was no u-e. After a race of a block the man who grinned gained so fast that the other stopped short and went back to his girl and his hat. Stretching out his hand to the innocent maiden, he remarked : "Lucy, clasp on to that, and if you Jet go for the next two hours, even to wipe your hose, I'll never call you by the sacred name of wile."



•"The Races of Man," py Oscar Pesohel (1876).



rialaoa Life," by A. R, Wallace.



I ' Tho Geographical Distribution ol . Ani mals," by A. It. Wallace. * ./• .