H. W. MAGOUN 



production by functional changes of corresponding changes in nervous 

 structure, and the transmission of these to posterity. Considering how 

 involved are the nervous systems of superior creatures, there apply here 

 with special force reasons for concluding that natural selection is an 

 inadequate cause of evolution where many co-operative parts have to be 

 simultaneously modified; and that in such cases, inheritance of functionally 

 produced modifications becomes the leading agency — survival of the 

 fittest serving as an aid.' 



Ii'ivi P. Parlor. Though Pavlov's work in the physiology of the central 

 nervous system did not commence until his fifties, its conceptualization 

 was influenced strongly by the ideas of Darwin and of Spencer, encoun- 

 tered in liis youth through the writings of Pisarev and Sechenov. In his 

 Aiirohio^irapliY (1955), Pavlov wrote: T was born in the town of Ryazan 

 in 1849 and received my secondary education at the local theological 

 seminary, hifluenced by tlie literature of the 'sixties, and particularly by 

 Pisarev, our intellectual interests turned to natural science and many, 

 myself included, decided to take the subject at the university.' 



Pisarev was a writer and critic whose articles in the Riisskoyc Sloro 

 promoted revolutionary-democratic anti materialistic ideas among the 

 intelligentsia of the 'sixties. There seems little doubt that Pavlov first 

 became captivated by Darwin and the theory of evolution from reading 

 Pisarev's lengthy, systematic, popular exposition of the Ori'^iii of Species 

 entitled, Proi^ress in the Aiii)iuil (vui Ve^ietable li'orlds (1858). The ecstatic 

 attitude towards Darwin, which Pavlov preserved to the end of his days, 

 can easily be identified with Pisarev's lofty expression: 



'This brilliant thinker, whose knowledge is enormous,' Pisarev wrote of 

 Darwin, 'took in all the life of nature with such a broad view and pene- 

 trated so deeply into all its scattered phenomena that he discovered, not an 

 isolated fact, but a whole series of laws according to which all organic life 

 on our planet is governed and varies; and he told of them so simply, 

 proves them so irrefutably and bases his arguments on such obvious facts, 

 that you, a common human, uninitiated in natural science, are in a state of 

 continual astonishment at not having thought out such conclusions your- 

 self long ago. 



'For us ordinary and unenlightened people, Darwin's discoveries are 

 precious and important just because they are so fascinating in their 

 simplicity, so easy to understand; they not only enrich us with new 

 knowledge, they give fresh life to all the system of our ideas and widen 

 our mental horizon in all dimensions. In nearly all branches of natural 

 science, Darwin's ideas bring about a complete revolution. Even 



