We answer decidedly in the negative, if we think of evolution in the Darwinian meaning. Of course, there is the development of the flower from the bud, the butterfly from the caterpillar, the chick from the egg, the man from the infant, but there is no instance of one species evolving from another species, and on this vital point the doctrine of evolution utterly fails.
The greatest examples of evolution in this limited sense are seen in the inventions of man. The evolution of the locomotive, the steamship, the airplane, are examples. But that is not in nature. Locomotives do not breed and hand on improvements to their posterity.
But it may be urged—Is there not the evolution of the pouter pigeon from the common rock pigeon, the Gloire de Dijon from the dog rose, the Cox's Orange Pippin from the crab apple stock? It is impossible to use the word evolution here, for never, left to nature, did the pouter spring from the rock pigeon, nor the Gloire de Dijon rose from the dog rose, nor the cultivated apple from the paradise stock. All this comes about by man's efforts, NOT BY NATURAL SELECTION, and when man ceases his efforts these intensive products revert back to their original condition.
Professor Huxley says:- " In crossing the breeds between the fantail and the pouter, the carrier and the tumbler, or any other variety or race you may name—so far as we know at present—there is no difficulty in breeding together the mongrels."
He then points out that as soon as you permit pigeons of different varieties to mate promiscuously—no matter how different the varieties may have been—you will find in a few generations of pigeons all the varieties have vanished, and the pigeons have reverted to type, viz., the blue rock pigeon with the black bars across the wings. " This," Huxley says, " is certainly a very remarkable circumstance."
But it is just this that proclaims the fixity of species, which truth is fatal to the theory of evolution.
Mr. Sutton, the well-known horticulturist, writing to The Record, says that in order to raise successfully new seed or preserve it true to type when it has been raised, man's assistance is ALWAYS required. Speaking especially of the beetroot he says:- " If any one of these improved forms are allowed to seed near other varieties, the distinctive characteristics of each would be quickly lost through cross fertilization. To preserve any form of garden beet true to type, it is necessary to seed it at a mile's distance at least, from any other variety of beet or mangold seed."
All the improvements in nature, brought about by man's fostering care and ingenuity, are only the bringing forth of what is latent in the plant or animal. Once the fostering hand of man is removed the improved plant or animal reverts to type. This cannot be called evolution in the Darwinian sense, where the improvements are claimed to become permanent, or else lead to still greater improvement.