APPENDIX. 



TRANSLATORS' NOTES. 



The Mechanico-physiological Theory of Evolution, 

 (Mechanisch-Physiologische Theorie der A bstammungs- 

 lehre), by Carl von Nageli, was published in 

 Munich and Leipsic in 1884 in a large octavo vol- 

 ume of 822 pages, including two large appendices. 

 The Abstammungslehre proper, including the sum- 

 mary, occupies 552 pages, and constitutes, in its way, 

 one of the most important contributions to theoret- 

 ical biology. It is difficult to understand how a work 

 of so much consequence should have received such 

 comparatively small notice in this country, especially 

 as Nageli's theories seemed calculated by nature to 

 appeal much more strongly to American students 

 than do, for instance, those of Weismann, who has 

 been studied ten times as much as Nageli. This is 

 doubtless due, in part, to the fact that we have had 

 no English translation of Nageli's work, a circum- 

 stance much to be regretted. 



The foregoing translation of the summary from 

 Abstammungslehre goes but a small way toward 

 making Nageli's theories accessible to English -read- 

 ing students, but it will, at least, be better than 

 nothing. The work covers a great range of sub- 

 jects, all, however, having a certain relationship to 

 each other. In the main part of the book the dis- 

 cussion is presented in the following order; (i) 



45 



