CHAPTER XV 



FINAL SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 



1. The world has undoubtedly been peopled by an evolution of 

 forms one from another, giving rise, as time has passed, to beings 

 of increasing complexity. 



2. The process of evolution appears not to be a matter of 

 natural selection of chance variations of adaptational value. 

 Rather it is working upon some definite law that we do not yet 

 comprehend. The law probably began its operations with the 

 commencement of life, and it is carrying this on according to 

 some definite plan. 



3. Evolution and natural selection are probably to a great 

 extent independent, and they work at right angles to one another, 

 with (in plants at any rate) little mutual interference. 



4. Evolution most probably goes on by definite single muta- 

 tions, which cause structural alterations, which mav, but bv no 

 means necessarilv must, have some functional advantao^e at- 

 tached. If such an advantage appear in the mutation, natural 

 selection will likely allow it to survive. There is no necessary 

 reason why the immediate ancestor should die out. 



5. Evolution goes on in what one may call the downward 

 direction from family to variety, not in the upward, required by 

 the theory of natural selection. 



6. Evolution thus moved in the opposite direction to that 

 required by natural selection, and thirty-four test cases are 

 given, all giving evidence to that effect. 



7. Evolution is no longer a matter of chance, but of law. It 

 has no need of any support from natural selection. 



8. It thus comes into line with other sciences which have a 

 mathematical basis. 



9. The theory of natural selection has been trying to work it 

 backwards. 



10. Mutation tends to be divergent, especially in the early 

 stages of a family. The family, consisting probably of one genus 

 and one species, is probably first created by a single mutation, 

 whilst later ones are usually less marked than the first, and give 

 rise to further genera and species. The earliest mutations ulti- 

 mately give rise to the chief divisions of the family. 



11. The Linnean species is not necessarily a conglomeration of 

 forms made from below upwards, but is rather a stage on the way 

 downwards to the Jordanian species. 



