2. THE PRINCIPLES OF DARWINISM 



THERE is no need in our times and particularly in this 

 country, to explain in a full manner the theory known 

 under the name of Darwinism. All of you know this 

 theory, at least in its outlines, and so we may entqr at once 

 upon its analytic discussion. A few words only I beg you 

 to allow me as to the name of " Darwinism " itself. 

 Strange to say, Darwinism, and the opinion of Charles 

 Darwin about the descent of organisms, are two different 

 things. Darwin, the very type of a man devoted to science 

 alone and not to personal interests, Darwin was anything 

 but dogmatic, and yet Darwinism is dogmatism in one of 

 its purest forms. Darwin, for instance, gave the greatest 

 latitude to the nature of the variations which form the 

 battleground of the struggle for existence and natural 

 selection ; and he made great allowances for other causal 

 combinations also, which may come into account besides 

 the indirect factors of transformism. He was Lamarckian 

 to a very far-reaching extent. And he had no definite 

 opinion about the origin and the most intimate nature of 

 life in general. These may seem to be defects but really 

 are advantages of his theory. He left open the question 

 which he could not answer, and, in fact, he may be said 

 to be a good illustration of what Lessing says, that it is 



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