THEORIES OF EVOLUTION 135 



been recognized in the world of nature. That which 

 exists in a species is not enough to explain the 

 intricate ramifications of many species and their 

 close correlations with the infinite possibilities of 

 the environment. We must turn to the Lamarckian 

 view and see what it contributes to the sum of 

 evolutionary thought. 



It is probable that no part of evolutionary theory 

 has been more maligned or more subject to mis- 

 taken discussion than this. If there were no demon- 

 strable organic power of adjustment to environ- 

 mental conditions, if individuals must meet their 

 surroundings with only their hereditary structures 

 and without the capacity for regulating these 

 structures in the slightest degree to meet the pe- 

 culiar conditions surrounding their own lives, then 

 there would be no reason whatever to investigate 

 the possibility of adaptation in the species beyond 

 the selective processes already discussed. But we 

 do witness adaptive processes in the individual 

 which result in direct adjustment to environmental 

 conditions and the possible extension of these 

 processes to the production of specific adaptive 

 characters will not down. It seems incredible that 

 the processes of individual life should be wholly 

 unconnected with the adaptations present in spe- 

 cies as hereditary characters. 



The possibility has been overworked in the past, 

 but we may say the same of selection theories. 



