INTRODUCTION 17 



discussions are idle; if it does eventually turn out 

 to be true the discussion of its implications can then 

 take on a degree of confidence and assurance on the 

 biological side which they cannot possibly have now. 

 As ancillary evidence to support the theory I think 

 they have but little weight. But granting all this, 

 Mrs. Gaskell's discussions of various biological prob- 

 lems, particularly that of evolution, have a re- 

 freshing novelty and shrewdness which gives them 

 a value by no means negligible. In some degree she 

 offers us, in this extremely stimulating and original 

 book, that opportunity so rarely achieved, to see 

 ourselves as others see us. 



Raymond Pearl. 



