. W. C. Wells first proposed to apply the principle of natural
selection to the natural history of man, and in 1822 Professor Herbert
first asserted the probable transmutation of species of plants. In 1844
a book appeared called "Vestiges of Creation," which, though evidently
not written by a scientific student, yet attracted great attention by
its bold and ingenious theories. The authorship of this book was never
revealed until after the death of Robert Chambers, a few years since, it
became known that this publisher, whom no one would ever have suspected
of holding such heterodox theories, had actually written it. But the two
great apostles of the evolution theory were Charles Darwin and Herbert
Spencer. The latter began his great work, the "First Principles of
Philosophy," showing the application of evolution in the facts of life,
in 1852. In 1859 appeared Darwin's "Origin of Species." The hypothesis
of the latter was that different species originated in spontaneous
variation, and the survival of the fittest through natural selection and
the struggle for existence. This theory was further elaborated and
applied by Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, and other writers in Europe and
America, and though to-day by no means all the ideas upheld by these
early advocates of the theory are still accepted, evolution as a
principle is now acknowledged by nearly all scientists. It is taken to
be an established fact in nature, a valid induction from man's knowledge
of natural order.

THE ENGLISH SPARROW.

The first English sparrow was brought to the United States in 1850, but
it was not until 1870 that the species can be said to have firmly
established itself. Since then it has taken possession of the country.
Its fecundity is amazing. In the latitude of New York and southward it
hatches, as a rule, five or six broods in a season, with from four to
six young in a brood. Assuming the average annual product of a pair to
be twenty-four young, of which half are females and half males, and
assuming further, for the sake of computation, that all live, together
with their offspring, it will be seen that in ten years the progeny of a
single pair would be 275,716,983,698.

FEMININE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT.

It is often asked how stout a woman ought to be in proportion to her
height. A very young girl may becomingly be thinner than a matron, but
the following table gives a fair indication of proper proportions:

Height Pounds