CHAPTER XVIII 



CRITIQUE OF DARWINISM 



The last chapter deah with the central ideas of Darwin as told by 

 himself. Some of the chief objections to the theory were also presented 

 as Darwin saw them, and his own answers to these objections were 

 given. These four objections are not by any means all that Darwin 

 foresaw, for he presented in another chapter a discussion of "Miscel- 

 laneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection." Before 

 entering upon a general criticism of Darwinism, it would be advanta- 

 geous to have before us a brief and pointed summary of Darwin's 

 theory — natural selection — now known technically as Darwinism. 

 The writer knows of no better short statement of the true content of 

 Darwinism than the following summary by Professor Vernon L. 

 Kellogg. 



SUMMARY OF DARWIN'S NATURAL-SELECTION THEORY* 



Darwinism may be defined as a certain rational, causo-mechanical 

 (hence, non-teleologic) explanation of the origin of new species. The 

 Darwinian explanation rests on certain observed facts, and certain 

 inductions from these facts. The observed facts are: (i) the increase 

 by multipUcation in geometrical ratio of the individuals in every 

 species, whatever the kind of reproduction which may be pecuhar to 

 each species, whether this be simple division, sporulation, budding, 

 parthenogenesis, conjugation and subsequent division, or amphimixis 

 (sexual reproduction); (2) the always apparent slight (to greater) 

 variation in form and function existing among all individuals even 

 though of the same generation or brood; and (3) the transmission, 

 with these inevitable slight variations, by the parent to its offspring 

 of a form and physiology essentially like the parental. The inferred 

 (also partly observed) facts are: (i) a lack of room and food for all 

 these new individuals produced by geometrical multiplication and 

 consequently a competition (active or passive) among those individuals 

 having any ecologic relations to one another, as, for example, among 



' From V. L. Kellogg, Darwinism- To-Day (copyright 1907). Used by per- 

 mission of the publishers, Henry Holt & Company. 



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