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Preface 



A critical reader of the works of Darwin, Huxley, 

 Spencer, Haeckel, Romanes, Weismann, Mivart, Cope 

 and other writers, on organic evolution ; will find that 

 there is much diversity in the views of these writers. 

 Darwin believes that the first one, or the first few, 

 animals and plants were directly and specially made 

 by the Creator; Haeckel says the primordial forms 

 arose "by spontaneous generation from inorganic mat- 

 ter." Referring to the origin of life, Romanes says that 

 "science is not in a position to furnish so much as 

 suggestion upon the subject.' Neither Huxley, Weis- 

 mann, Mivart nor Cope has anything to say on the 

 origin of life. No two of these writers agree as to the 

 work of the "factors' of evolution. According to 

 Darwin, Romanes and Weismann, natural selection 

 did substantially the entire work of evolving all the 

 species of animal and plant. But Cope, and other 

 evolutionists of the Lamarckian school, hold that use, 

 disuse, pressure, friction and motion did it. 



Weismann argues that the inheritance of "ac- 

 quired characters" is impossible; while Spencer, Ro- 

 manes and other evolutionists say that Weismann 's 

 views are highly absurd and would entirely destroy 

 the theory of evolution; and I think they are correct 

 in this view. There are many evolutionists for and 

 against Weismann 's theory of heredity. Writers on 

 evolution differ as widely on other important ques- 

 tions, as on these. 



