The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

184 SCIENCE AND RELIGION.cies in the vegetable kingdom, and an analogousset of truths as to the animal kingdom,and above these, possibly still more importantfor general appreciation of the universe as awhole, a body of truth as to the relations ofplants and animals.As to the first of these, it seems obviousthat within the single field of observation presentedby orchids,-comparatively narrow,in view of the wide domain of the vegetablekingdom, and yet astonishingly extensive, onaccount of the richness of detail,-there isa large body of evidence to support the theoryof origin of species by selection and adaptation.Whether all the orchide= now foundin existence have sprung from one order ofplant, or from several, the testimony appearsample to support at least the following conclusionas presented in the words of Mr. Darwin,"that the now wonderfully changedstructure of the flower is due to a longcourse of slow modification,-each modificationhaving been preserved which was usefulto the plant, during the incessant changes towhich the organic and inorganic world hasbeen exposed." "* Fettilizalion, p. 246.