THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES

VOLUME XII.

THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.

I. THE FORMS OF WATER IN CLOUDS AND RIVERS, ICE AND GLACIERS. By J. TYNDALL, LL.D., F.R.S. Sixth Edition. With 26 Illustrations. Price 5s.

"

II. PHYSICS AND POLITICS; OR, THOUGHTS ON THE APPLICATION
OF THE PRINCIPLES OF "NATURAL SELECTION AND INHERITANCE ΤΟ
POLITICAL SOCIETY. By WALTER BAGEHOT. Third Edition. Price 4s.
III. FOODS. By DR. EDWARD SMITH. Fourth Edition. Profusely Illus-
trated. Price 5s.

IV. MIND AND BODY: THE THEORIES OF THEIR RELATIONS. By
ALEXANDER BAIN, LL.D., Professor of Logic at the University of Aberdeen.
Fifth Edition. With Four Illustrations. Price 45.

V. THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. By HERBERT SPENCER. Fifth Edition. Price 5s.

VI. ON THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. By Professor BALFOUR
STEWART. Third Edition. With Fourteen Illustrations. Price 55.

VII. ANIMAL LOCOMOTION; or, Walking, Swimming, and Flying.
By J. B. PETTIGREW, M.D., F. R.S. Second Edition. With 119 Illustrations.
Price 5s.
VIII. RESPONSIBILITY IN MENTAL DISEASE. By Dr. HENRY
MAUDSLEY. Second Edition. Price 5s.

IX. THE NEW CHEMISTRY. By Professor JOSIAH P. COOKE, of the
Harvard University. Third Edition. With Thirty-one Illustrations. Price 5s.
X. THE SCIENCE OF LAW. By Professor SHELDON AMOS. Third
Edition. Price 5s.

XI. ANIMAL MECHANISM. A Treatise on Terrestrial and Aerial Locomotion. By E. J. MAREY. Second Edition. With 117 Illustrations. Price 5s. XII. THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT AND DARWINISM. By Professor OSCAR SCHMIDT (Strasburg University). Third Edition. With Twentysix Illustrations. Price 5s.

XIII. HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND
SCIENCE. By J. W. DRAPER, LL.D., &c. Seventh Edition. Price 5s.
XIV. FUNGI: their Nature, Influences, Uses, &c. By M. C. COOKE,
M.A., LL.D. Edited by the Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.L.S. Second
Edition. With Illustrations. Price 5s.

XV. THE CHEMICAL EFFECTS OF LIGHT AND PHOTOGRAPHY, in their Application to Art, Science, and Industry. By Dr. HERMANN VOGEL (Polytechnic Academy of Berlin). Third Edition. The translation thoroughly revised. With 100 Illustrations, including some beautiful Specimens of Photography. Price 5s.

XVI. THE LIFE AND GROWTH OF LANGUAGE.

By W. D. WHITNEY, Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology in Yale College, New Haven. Second Edition. Price 5s.

XVII. MONEY AND THE MECHANISM OF EXCHANGE.

By W.

STANLEY JEVONS, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Logic and Political Economy in the Owens College, Manchester. Second Edition. Price 5s. XVIII. THE NATURE OF LIGHT: With a General Account of Physical Optics. By Dr. EUGENE LOMMEL, Professor of Physics in the University of Erlangen. Second Edition. With 188 Illustrations and a Plate of Spectra in Chromolithography. Price 55.

XIX. ANIMAL PARASITES AND MESSMATES. By Monsieur VAN BENEDEN, Professor of the University of Louvain, Correspondent of the Institute of France. Second Edition. With Eighty-three Illustrations. Price 5s. XX. FERMENTATION. By Professor SCHUTZENBERGER, Director of the Chemical Laboratory at the Sorbonne. Illustrated. Second Edition.

55.

Price

For List of forthcoming Books in the Series see the Catalogue at the end of this
Book.

The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.]

PREFACE.

THE important chapter which closes this work was included in a public lecture which I delivered at the meeting of Naturalists and Physicians held this year at Wiesbaden; my purpose being, as I am willing to confess, to ascertain, by experience, whether on this significant subject I had struck the right note to suit a circle of hearers and readers not hampered by prejudice.

After the reception given to this fragment, which I also issued in a separate pamphlet, under the title of "The Doctrine of Descent, in its application to Man" (Die Anwendung der Descendenzlehre auf den Menschen), I venture to hope that the whole may find a welcome.

With the exception of the Ecclesiastico-political question, no sphere of thought agitates the educated classes of our day so profoundly as the doctrine of descent. On both subjects the cry is, "Avow your colours!"