Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

arguments which show that the animals and plants now alive are descended from simpler ancestors, these from still simpler, and so on back into the mists of life's beginnings. To realise that the present is child of the past is to realise the fact of Evolution, and the surest way to grasp the biological verification of this fact is to undertake a course of practical study. Failing this, we must, I suppose, read up the subject. Romanes's Evidences of Evolution (Nature Series, Lond.) gives a convenient statement of the case, and his Rosebery Lectures will be more exhaustive. Clodd's Story of Creation: a plain account of Evolution (Lond., 1888) sums up the evidence in small compass; another very terse statement will be found in H. De Varigny's Experimental Evolution (Lond., 1892); Haeckel's Natural History of Creation (Berlin, 1868) the most popular of his works, now in its eighth edition (Jena, 1890) is available in translation (Lond., 1879); Huxley's American Addresses (Lond., 1877) have even greater charm of style; Carus Sterne's Werden und Vergehen (3rd ed., Berlin, 1886) is perhaps the best of all popular expositions; while the thorough student will find most satisfaction in the relevant portions of Darwin's Origin of Species, and Spencer's Principles of Biology.

History of Evolution Theories.-As the idea of Evolution is very ancient, and as it was expounded in relation to animal life by many competent naturalists before Darwin's intellectual coin became current throughout the world, it is unwise that students should restrict their reading to Darwinian and post-Darwinian literature. The student of Evolution should know how Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck, Treviranus, the St. Hilaires, Goethe, even Robert Chambers, and many other pre-Darwinians dealt with the problem. Those who desire to preserve their sense of historical justice should read one or more of the following: Huxley's article on "Evolution" in the Encyclopædia Britannica; Samuel Butler's interesting volume on Evolution Old and New (Lond., 1879); Perrier's Philosophie Zoologique avant Darwin (Paris, 1884); the historical chapters of Haeckel's Natural History of Creation; Carus's Geschichte der Zoologie, and some other historical works already referred to (p. 355); A. de Candolle's Histoire des Sciences et des Savants dépuis deux Siècles (Genève, Bâle, 1883); Carus Sterne's (Ernst Krause's) excellent work, Die Allgemeine Weltanschauung (Stuttgart, 1889); De Quatrefages, Charles Darwin et ses précurseurs français (Paris, 1870).

Darwinism.-The best account of the Darwinian theory of Evolution, especially of the theory of natural selection which Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace independently elaborated, is Wallace's Darwinism (Lond., 1889). From this the

student will naturally pass to the works of Darwin himself—The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection; or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Lond., 1859); The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (2 vols., Lond., 1868); The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (Lond., 1871), etc.; the earlier works of Wallace, especially his Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection (Lond., 1871); Spencer's Principles of Biology-cf. his articles on "The Factors of Organic Evolution" (Nineteenth Century, 1886); Haeckel's Generelle Morphologie, and Natural History of Creation. As a popular account of Darwin's life and work, Grant Allen's Charles Darwin (English Worthies Series, 3rd ed., Lond., 1886) has a deserved popularity; G. T. Bettany's similar work (Great Writers Series, Lond., 1886) has a very valuable bibliography; but for full personal and historical details reference must be made to the Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, by his son Francis Darwin (3 vols., Lond., 1887).

Recent Contributions to the Theory of Evolution. — At the present time there is much discussion in regard to the factors of organic Evolution. The theory of Evolution is still being evolved; there is a struggle between opinions. On the one hand, many naturalists are more Darwinian than Darwin was, —that is to say, they lay more exclusive emphasis upon the theory of natural selection; on the other hand, not a few are less Darwinian than Darwin was, and emphasise factors of Evolution and aspects of Evolution which Darwin regarded as of minor importance.

Of those who are more Darwinian than Darwin, I may cite as representative: Alfred Russel Wallace who, in his Darwinism, subjects Darwin's subsidiary theory of sexual selection to destructive criticism; August Weismann who, in his Essays on Heredity, denies the transmissibility of characters acquired by the individual organism, as the results of use or disuse or of external influence; and E. Ray Lankester, see his article "Zoology" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, and his work on the Advancement of Science (Lond., 1890). The student should also read an article by Prof. Huxley, "The Struggle for Existence, and its Bearing upon Man" in the Nineteenth Century, Feb. 1888.

See also:

Samuel Butler, Evolution Old and New (Lond., 1879), Luck or Cunning (Lond., 1887), and other works.

Prof. E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest (New York, 1887).

Prof. G. H. T. Eimer, Organic Evolution, as the Result of the Inheritance of Acquired Characters, according to the Laws of Organic Growth (Jena, 1888). Trans. by J. T. Cunningham (Lond., 1890).

Prof. T. Fiske, Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy (Lond., 1874), Darwinism, and other Essays (Lond., 1875).

Prof. P. Geddes, Article "Variation and Selection," Encyclopædia Britannica; "Evolution," Chambers's Encyclopædia, new ed. Cf. The Evolution of Sex, and forthcoming work on Evolution, Organic and Social.

E. Gilou, La Lutte pour le Bien-être (1890).

Rev. J. T. Gulick, Divergent Evolution, through Cumulative Segregation (Journ. Linn. Soc. xx., 1888).

[ocr errors]

P. Kropotkine, 'Mutual Aid among Animals," Nineteenth Century (Sept. and Nov. 1890).

Lanessan, La Lutte pour l'Existence et l'Association pour la Lutte (Paris, 1882).

Prof. St. George Mivart, The Genesis of Species (Lond., 1871), Lessons from Nature (Lond., 1876), On Truth (Lond., 1889). Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, Animal Life and Intelligence (Lond., 1890).

Prof. C. V. Nägeli, Mechanisch-physiologische Abstammungslehre (München and Leipzig, 1884).

Prof. A. S. Packard, Introduction to the Standard or Riverside Natural History (New York and Lond., 1885).

Dr. G. J. Romanes, Physiological Selection (Journ. Linn. Soc. xix., 1886), and forthcoming Rosebery Lectures on the Philosophy of Natural History.

Prof. K. Semper, The Natural Conditions of Existence as they affect Animal Life (Internat. Sci. Series, Lond., 1881).

Dr. J. B. Sutton, An Introduction to General Pathology (Lond., 1886). Evolution and Disease (Contempor. Sci. Series, Lond., 1890).

[blocks in formation]

past history of, 204-209

social life of, 67-94

and plants, resemblances and

contrasts, 167-171

Aristotle, 283, 284

Armour of animals, 34, 35

Artemia, 310, 311

Arthropods, 10, 238

Atavism, 322

Autotomy, 64-66

Axolotl, 309

BACKBONED animals, 9, 222-247
Backboneless animals, 9, 10, 248-

272
Bacteria, 21, 22

Balance of nature, 19-21
Balanoglossus, 9, 249, 250
Bathybius, 219

Beauty of animals, 15-17
Beavers, 25, 74, 75

Bees, 78-84

Biology, justification of, 34-50
Birds, 9, 264-267

parental care among, 114, 115
Blind animals, 305

relation of simplest to more Body, functions of, 144-149

complex, 171-174

Annelids, 231-234

Antlers, 279

Ants, 78-84

and aphides, 119, 120
and plants, 29

Aphides, 82, 312

multiplication of, 38

Arachnida, 243
Archoplasm, 183

parts of, 174-183

[blocks in formation]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »