Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
118
Among
the
host
of
sceptics--and
were
they
not
legion?--who
met
this
evolutionary
and
revolutionary
theory
with
incredulity,
not
to
say
ridicule
or
worse,
was
one
who
thus
challenged
its
author
shortly
after
the
appearance
of
his
"Fertilization
of
Orchids,"
addressing
Darwin
from
Madagascar
substantially
as
follows:
"Upon
your
theory
of
evolution
through
natural
selection
all
the
various
contrasting
structural
features
of
the
orchids
have
direct
reference
to
some
insect
which
shall
best
cross-fertilize
them.
If
an
orchid
has
a
nectary
one
inch
long,
an
insect's
tongue
of
equivalent
length
is
implied;
a
nectary
six
inches
in
length
likewise
implies
a
tongue
six
inches
long.
What
have
you
to
say
in
regard
to
an
orchid
which
flourishes
here
in
Madagascar
possessing
a
long
nectary
as
slender
as
a
knitting-needle
and
eleven
inches
in
length?
On
your
hypothesis
there
must
be
a
moth
with
a
tongue
eleven
inches
long,
or
this
nectary
would
never
have
been
elaborated."
Darwin's
reply
was
magnificent
in
its
proof
of
the
sublime
conviction
of
the
truth
of
his
belief:
"The
existence
of
an
orchid
with
a
slender
nectary
eleven
inches
in
length,
and
with
nectar
secreted
at
its
tip,
is
a
conclusive
demonstration
of
the
existence
of
a
moth
with
a
tongue
eleven
inches
in
length,
even
though
no
such
moth
is
known."
Many
of
us
remember
the
ridicule
which
was
heaped
upon
him
for
this
apparently
blind
adherence
to
an
untenable
theory.
But
victory
complete
and
demoralizing
to
his
opponents
awaited
this
oracular
utterance
when
later
a
disciple
of
Darwin,
led
by
the
same
spirit
of
faith
and
conviction,
visited
Madagascar,
and
was
soon
able
to
affirm
that
he
had
caught
the
moth,
a
huge
sphinx-moth,
and
that
its
tongue
measured
eleven
inches
in
length.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
