Lester Frank Ward

“ We can observe all the processes of concentration, of differentiation of parts, and of integration of the whole, as well as those of equilibration, of decomposition, and final dissolution. Not so with the planet. Whatever theory may suggest or require, we are forced to confess a profound ignorance of the final destiny of worlds. So far as we are able to observe, the universal tendency of all matter is from the indefinite and homogeneous to the definite and heterogeneous; from a state of unstable to one of stable equilibrium. But this is only the morning of the life of any aggregate. ”

“ The recent triumph of science, in the discovery of oxygen in the sun, serves to show how easy it is to overlook phenomena all the while perceptible, and gives great hope that not only nitrogen, but many other substances, will yet be found there, which have hitherto escaped observation. The fact that an element exists in the earth may not be proof that it must exist in the sun, even on the assumption that the sun is the parent of all the planets, but it is certainly strong presumptive evidence that it is also there. ”

“ Indeed, the solar and sidereal radiations are the only examples which the whole universe presents to us of such a force. It seems strange enough to be compelled to ascribe all the phenomena which have been embodied in the term organic evolution to the action of a force which is the precise opposite of evolution, and which ultimately accomplishes the dissolution of every such aggregate. Yet it is only because the sun is in a state in which its matter is being integrated, and its motion radiated into space, that our earth is capable of producing the forms of organic life. ”

“ And just as astronomers and physicists, confining their investigations to the more obvious and perceptible motions of celestial and terrestrial bodies, long remained ignorant of the law of gravitation which constantly forces all things into a state of equilibrium, so in biology the statical condition has been lost sight of in the effort to obtain better views of that moving panorama which a broader knowledge of the phenomena of life so unmistakably unfolds. ”

“ Doubtless there are other bodies in our solar system whose equilibration is even more complete than that of the moon—as, perhaps, some asteroids, or the satellites cf the outer planets. They have run their long cosmical course, and have arrived at last at the final state of complete, stable equilibrium. This state is the goal of the whole process of evolution. It must, therefore, be regarded, when viewed from this standpoint, as the state of greatest perfection in the life of every aggregate. ”

“ Let us now turn to the second branch of our subject, and glance for a moment at the phenomena and laws of organic evolution. The first fact that presents itself is, that its primary condition is the influence of the sun. However it may have been at one period of the history of the earth, when its internal temperature may have been of a nature to favor the development of organic life without the sun's aid, by the earth becoming itself a sort of sun, it may at least be now affirmed that the solar radiations are the sole condition of vital existence on the globe. ”

“ It is not the special adaptation of a plant for the spot on which it grows, so much as the hostile attitude of other plants around it, which restricts and determines its range. The elements which decide where plants shall grow, are to be found in vegetation itself, and not in inorganic conditions. The power of self-adaptation which they possess is sufficient to habituate almost any species to almost any inorganic conditions. Each species, therefore, keeps within its own restricted limits, not because it cannot live in other soils, but because prior occupants forbid it to come. ”

“ If the so-called chemical elements are simply so many stable molecular aggregates, whose differences are due to different modes and degrees of aggregation, then the gases of our earth are simply the most diffused state in which masses of these aggregates can be obtained. A gas is a diffused mass of homogeneous molecules, and this definition is as true of the compound gases, steam, carbonic acid, or vapor of alcohol, as it is of the simple ones, such as hydrogen, nitrogen, or vapor of mercury. ”

“ In a word, amid all these manifest proofs of evolution, what proof exists of dissolution regarded as a cosmical process? We are bound to confess that there is none. We are justified in its assumption on a priori grounds alone, if at all. The law of the conservation of energy, now so well established in all the departments of physics, must be theoretically extended to the mechanics of space. This law is only another expression for the indestructibility of motion. If no motion can be destroyed, the same quantity must always exist in the universe. ”

“ We know that an organism develops, much like a world, out of an homogeneous and diffused state of its elements. Throughout its course the organic aggregate behaves like other aggregates. From the imperceptible it becomes perceptible. From the diffuse it becomes concentrated. From the indefinite it becomes definite. From the homogeneous it becomes heterogeneous. From the unstable it approaches the stable condition. Segregation, which is the selective process, is more marked in the organic than in the inorganic aggregate. ”

“ Most of the objects which surround us, whether organic or inorganic, are known to consist of a great number of elementary parts of the same size and form which are aggregated in definite ways to form the general mass which each such object presents. These particles, which are alike for all parts of the same object or species of object, are unlike for different objects. Each object is an aggregate of elements of the same species, and these elements are the units of aggregation. All aggregates which have been thus far resolved into these units have confirmed this law. ”

“ On the contrary, a condition of dissolution would require the prevalence of a force the reverse of gravitation—a repulsive and expansive force. Our acquaintance with the visible universe reveals no region of space where we can assume the prevalence of such a force. On the contrary, many fixed stars, and even nebulae, afford the strongest evidence of being under the dominion of an attractive force. Not, however, but that there exists in the universe abundant evidence of the possibility and reality of a repulsive or dissolving force. ”

“ Each plant may be regarded as a reservoir of vital force, as containing within it a potential energy far beyond and wholly out of consonance with the contracted conditions imposed upon it by its environment, and by which it is compelled to possess the comparatively imperfect organization with which we find it endowed. Each individual is where it is, and what it is, by reason of the combined forces which hedge it in and determine its very form. Each species is the perpetual and inexorable antagonist of every other. ”

“ We thus find the parallelism between cosmic and organic evolution, which at the outset seemed so paradoxical, and afterward so imperfect, to be at last complete. In the one as in the other, the only phenomena which we know to be universal are those of evolution. In the one as in the other, the opposite class of phenomena are wholly subordinate, special, and local. In the one as in the other, the forces of attraction and repulsion, of integration and disintegration, are in perpetual conflict. ”

“ During the greater part of the history of an evolving system, the central mass must possess an enormously high temperature. This is required by chemistry as well as by physics. Throughout nearly the whole of this period, all the matter of the system must exist in the form of gas. But there exist in our globe many substances whose existence in the gaseous state presupposes great heat. The degree of heat required to volatilize the metals is immense, and there are certain other substances, such as silicon, for which still greater temperatures are demanded. ”

“ In view of the facts adduced, and others which will occur to the reader, we may conclude that the law of adaptation as popularly held requires extensive qualification if allowed to stand at all; that it is rather apparent than real; that large classes of facts are marshaled against it, and that some wider law is perpetually overruling it. The adaptations of Nature of which we hear so much are not perfect. Nature does not provide each species with a habitat best suited to its fullest development. ”

“ Setting out with the elements, regarded as aggregates of a comparatively high order and stable organization, but differing from one another in form, size, and molecular activities, as widely as the masses they form differ in properties, the problem of the formation of the higher orders of aggregates becomes comparatively simple. We find ourselves already in the domain of experimental science where the more or less completely demonstrated laws of chemistry and molecular physics lead us up to the formation of the various inorganic and organic forms of matter. ”

“ But the Missouri and Yellowstone themselves never go dry. They are large and rapid streams at the dryest seasons of the year, and their turbid waters surge past like a resistless tide. They wear down their valleys by slowly crossing and recrossing them, like a turner's chisel. Once at their limit on a given side, they may be imagined to halt and turn back. The form of the bottom is changed and the point of greatest activity transferred from one side to the other; the sand-bars are first removed, and then the willow-belt is carried away ”

“ But wherever we see this force of repulsion, which alone could effect the dissolution of the aggregates already formed, it is wholly subordinate to the force of attraction which has formed them. Phenomena of this nature are but episodes in the history of a system or of a world. Everywhere the opposite phenomena predominate. Everywhere the force of gravity is evolving new aggregates, and bearing old ones on to their final state of complete equilibration. ”

“ For, whatever may be the condition of other worlds or other regions of space, the phenomena of our world and our portion of space belong to the ascending series; and whatever may be the final doom of our planet and our universe, both are now in a state of progress, and are still rejoicing in the morning of creation. ”

“ It occurs at a stage of the process when the struggle between the contending forces is very great, if not at its greatest. It is the immediate product of that struggle, and cannot exist when either the one or the other greatly predominates. The force to which we universally ascribe all possibility of life is the force which is tending to disintegrate the matter of the globe by absorbing the motion of the sun. The force which constitutes evolution proper is that which bears down all life and reduces the face of Nature to a desert waste. ”

“ Every plant he has improved and rendered subservient to his purposes has become what it is in obedience to an inherent tendency to exchange its original condition for a better one. And it is by taking advantage of this tendency and creating such better conditions that man has drawn it into his service.
This willingness and often eagerness in plants to change their habitat, sometimes without the least acclimation, enlarges, therefore, from the mere lusus naturæ which it at first appeared to be, into a law which is coextensive with plant-life. ”

“ Organic being, as such, is the final term to which the generalization must be carried before the true scope of organic evolution can be adequately grasped by the mind. Individuals perish and are decomposed; species become extinct; genera, families, and whole classes, are swept from the earth. The broadest divisions into which the organic kingdoms of Nature have been classified have each their periods of ascendency and decline. But organic evolution ever continues. Progress in organization is the constant result. ”

“ Plants appear to be no longer in a state of perfect adaptation to their surroundings.
There is no longer a necessary correspondence and correlation between organism and habitat, no longer necessary that rhythmical (almost preëstablished) harmony between species and environment. This need only exist so far as is necessary to render the life of the species possible. Beyond this the greatest inharmony and inadaptation may be conceived to reign in Nature. ”

“ The fruit-trees, the cereals, and the roses, reach those wonderful heights of development under man's care, because he not only proves their friend, but wards off all their enemies. And just here it should be remarked that the alleged tendency of cultivated plants to relapse, when neglected, into their original state, upon which Prof. Agassiz laid so much stress as an unanswerable argument against transmutation, becomes, under the law of mutual repulsion, the necessary result of remanding them to their old conditions. ”

“ Nothing could be more absorbing than a close comparative analysis of the vegetation of different hemispheres, continents, islands, and zones, of the globe. The most casual survey of such fields reveals marvels, the mere acquaintance with which excites in the mind of the botanist the liveliest interest and pleasure. ”

“ If the radiation of heat from the surface of a body into space tends to cool it off, so does the constant diminution of its volume without loss of mass tend to heat it, and throughout its career these two influences must antagonize each other. It is only after the limit to possible contraction, due to the nature of matter itself, begins to be reached that the amount of radiation of heat comes greatly to exceed the amount of its generation, and that the body actually begins to cool off. ”

“ We know that the sun is radiating its heat into space; we do not know that space is returning this dissipated motion, either to the sun or to any other centre. We see planets and stars in various stages of their progress toward the stable state; we have no reason to believe that any are in the condition of transition from the stable to the unstable state. ”

“ The law of adaptation may therefore be reduced to this: that every plant possesses the power of self-adaptation to such a degree that, no matter under what conditions it may be compelled, by the higher law of mutual repulsion, to live, it will mould its own organism into harmony with those conditions, and thus continue its existence ”