THE HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT 



publication of his "Genetics and the Origin of Species" might well be 

 taken as the starting point of the period. Dobzhansky started as an ento- 

 mologist, but has become a leading Drosophila geneticist, and his book 

 is a cornerstone of the neo-Darwinian theory, to which much attention 

 will be given below. The late R. B. Goldschmidt (1878-1958) was closely 

 associated with the rise of genetics since the rediscovery of Mendel's 

 work. He had wide experience in the study of geographic variation, tax- 

 onomy, and physiological genetics. He and his students are the principal 

 proponents of the main alternative to the fashionable neo-Darwinian 

 theory. R. A. Fisher, J. B. S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright have been fore- 

 most in the statistical analysis of populations. Ernst Mayr, a systematic 

 ornithologist, has been prominent in the application of taxonomy to prob- 

 lems of evolution. E. B. Babcock's study of the genus Crepis, carried out 

 over a period of more than thirty years, is one of the most thorough and 

 comprehensive studies ever made upon a single genus of plants, and it is 

 one of the major supports of the neo-Darwinian theory. Edgar Anderson 

 has been important in the study of hybridization of natural species. G. L. 

 Stebbins has made extensive studies of the range grasses of the western 

 United States, with special reference to polyploidy. Clausen, Keck, and 

 Hiesey have published extensive studies on the behavior of plants when 

 grown in widely different habitats. 



Thus the modern synthesis is proceeding on many different fronts, and 

 to this most of the subsequent chapters will be devoted. 



REFERENCES 



Agar, W. E., et ah, 1954. "Fourth (final) Report on a Test of McDougall's Lamarck- 

 ian Experiments on Learning in Rats," ]. Exp. Biol., 31, 307-321. Experiments con- 

 ducted for more than twenty years fail to support the Lamarckian hypothesis. 



Bateson, William, 1922. "Evohitionary Faith and Modern Doubts," Science, 55, 

 55—61. A brilliant statement of the agnostic reaction to e\olution. 



Cannon, H. Graham, 1958. "The E\olution of Li\ ing Things," Manchester University 

 Press, Manchester. Neo-Lamarckism presented by one of its proponents. 



Cole, Fay-Cooper, 1959. "A Witness at the Scopes Trial," Scientific American, 200, 

 120—130 (January). This trial was the low point in the history of evolutionary 

 thought in the U.S. This is a most interesting account of the trial. 



Eiseley, Loren C, 1959. "Alfred Russel Wallace," Scientific American, 200, 70-84 

 (February). An interesting account of the life and travels of the codiscoverer. 



Gillespie, C. C, 1958. "Lamarck and Darwin in the History of Science," Atn. Scieti- 

 tist, 46, 388-409. A searching historico-philosophical analysis. 



Goldschmidt, R. B., 1956. "Portraits from Memory. Recollections of a Zoologist," Uni- 

 versity of Washington Press, Seattle, Wash. In these pages, some of the men dis- 

 cussed in this chapter li\e once more. 



Irvine, William, 1955. "Apes, Angels, and Victorians," McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 

 New York, N.Y. A fascinating insight into the lives and personalities of Darwin and 

 some of his contemporaries, particularly T. H. Huxley. 



Logy, W. A., 1935. "Biology and its Makers," 3rd Ed., Henry Holt & Co., Inc., New 

 York, N.Y. Short biographies of many of the men cited in this chapter. 



Nordenskiold, Eric, 1928. "The History of Biology," Tudor Publishing Co., New 

 York, N.Y. A scholarly treatment of the history of e\olutionary thought is included. 



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