St Helena: a Physical, Historical, and Topographical Description of the Island, including its Geology, Fauna, Flora, and Meteorology

Abstract

THERE is a change to be introduced into our mode of work as compared with that of former investigators. When less was known of animals and plants, the discovery of new species was the great object. This has been carried too far, and is now almost the lowest kind of scientific work. The discovery of a new species, as such, does not change a feature in the science of natural history any more than the discovery of a new asteroid changes the character of the problems to be investigated by astronomers. It is merely adding to the enumeration of objects. We should look rather for the fundamental relations among animals; the number of species we may find is of importance only so far as they explain the distribution and limitation of different genera and families, their relations to each other and to the physical conditions in which they live. Out of such investigations there looms up a deeper question for scientific men, the solution of which is to be the most important result of their work in the coming generation. The origin of life is the great question of the day. How did the organic world come to be as it is?”

St. Helena: a Physical, Historical, and Topographical Description of the Island, including its Geology, Fauna, Flora, and Meteorology.

By John Charles Melliss. (London: L. Reeve.)