32 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



DARWIN'S PROBABLE PLACE IN FUTURE BIOLOGY 



By Professor WILLIAM E. RITTER 



MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 



THIS centenary of Darwin's birth and semi-centenary of the publi- 

 cation of " The Origin of Species " will stimulate greater inter- 

 est than ever in the illustrious naturalist's life and work. It may be 

 hoped that the retrospective mood and generous spirit wont to pervade 

 commemorative periods may contribute to hotter understanding and 

 juster estimate of his achievements. 



A strong current in biological thought is now running counter to 

 belief in natural selection as an adequate explanation of evolution. 

 One not at home in the biological literature of the day has but to read 

 such general books as Morgan's " Evolution and Adaptation " and Kel- 

 logg's " Darwinism To-day/' to feel the force of this current. That it 

 is destined to wax stronger appears certain. Until its meaning is 

 rightly seen it can but work injuriously to Darwin's fame. 



Such productions as Dennert's " At the Deathbed of Darwinism '• 

 are symptomatic, though peevish, irreverent and false. They indicate 

 disease somewhere in the body of evolutional doctrine. According to 

 my diagnosis, the disease is seated near the vitals of the body and the 

 name by which it is known is neo-Darwinism. It is a morbific growth 

 and only its removal can restore the patient to health. 



For a full generation, trade-marked expounders of evolution have 

 insisted that only natural selection is true Darwinism. Powerful voices 

 among these have said that natural selection is the full explanation of 

 evolution, and on this basis are known as neo-Darwinians. By general 

 assent natural selection becomes Darwinism, and hy high authority 

 Darwinism becomes neo-Darwinism. Consequently, now that neo-Dar- 

 winism has had time to come near its perdition, it not unnaturally 

 seems to the little discerning to be dragging all evolution with it. 



What did Darwin really do? Let us ask the question during this 

 first centennial year of his birth, as though expecting the answer from 

 the second centennial of his natal day. 



To begin with, he gave us one of the noblest examples of a life 

 devoted to search for truth that the modern world has seen. Splendid 

 as are his works, more splendid still was the man. Every human life 

 — every life — viewed from the standpoint of the larger, truer biology, 

 must be seen to be greater than any of its works, for its works are but 

 parts of the whole, and in biology, as elsewhere, a part is less than the 



