PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. — SECTION II. 25 



which utterance was given by Dr. Francis Darwin in the opening- 

 paragraphs" of his Presidential Address to the British Association 

 last year, that he was forced to appear as the champion of what 

 some of his hearers considered " a lost cause — the doctrine of the 

 inheritance of acquired characters."* If we turn to France and 

 Germany to-day we shall catch echoes of opinions less euphemisti- 

 cally expressed. These may perhaps be best summed up in the 

 words of Professor von Hartmann.f He says : — 



" In the sixties of the past century the opposition of the older group of 

 savants to the Darwinian hypothesis was still supreme. In the seventies 

 the new idea began to gain ground rapidly in all cultured countries. In the 

 eighties Darwin's influence was at its height, and exercised an almost absolute 

 control over technical research. In the nineties, for the first time, a few 

 timid expressions of doubt and opposition were heard, and these gradually 

 swelled into a great chorus of voices, aiming at the overthrow of the Darwinian 

 theory. In the first decade of the twentieth century it has become apparent 

 that the days of Darwinism are numbered." 



To this Professor Albert Fleischmann of Erlangen adds : — :j: 

 " After acquainting ourselves with his arguments we cannot help declaring, 

 Darwin's assertions are entirely devoid of foundation. As plausible as they 

 sound, so little can they be confirmed by positive facts. Hence they can 

 claim the value only of a subjective, and, moreover, an unsubstantiated 

 conjecture. . . . . . If the combination of abstract notions in this 



theory cannot be proved by actual observation to possess any cogency, then 

 it is not even a scientific theory, but only empty phantasy, and its proper 

 place is not on the Professor's desk, but in the lumber-room of Science ! " § 



France may be represented by MM. de Qua tref ages and Blan- 

 chard. The former writes : — \\ 



" Personal conviction, mere possibility, are offered as proofs, or at least 

 as arguments in favour of the theory. Can we admit their validity ? 

 Obviously not. The human mind can conceive many things : is thatja 

 reason for accepting them all ? " 



In this connection, too, M. Blanchard offers the following com- 

 ment : — ^ 



" The realms of fancy are unbounded : but the observer concerned with 

 realities can take account only of the facts of science." 



If we cross from Europe to the opposite side of the Atlantic we 

 find Professor Shaler, of Harvard, writing : — 



" It begins to be evident to naturalists that the Darwinian hypothesis is 

 still essentially unverified It is not yet proved that a single 



* Brit. Assoc. Report, 1908, Dublin, p. 4. 



t " Der Niedergaiig der Darwinismus " in Ostwald's " Annalen der 

 Naturphilosophie," vol. 2, 1903 ; transl. in " Pall Mall Magazine," Sept., 

 1904, p. 74. 



X " Die Darwinsche Theorie," pp. 102 and 339. 



§ " Nach Kenntnissnahme seiner Beweisfiihrung miissen war erklaren, 

 Darwins Behauptungen stehen vollkommen in der Luft. So emleuchtend 

 sie klingen, so wenig konnten sie durch positive Tatsachen begnindet werden. 

 Sie konnen darum bloss den Wert einer subjektiven, vorderhand unbewiesenen 

 Vermutung beanspruchen. ..... Wenn die Kombination der 



abstrakten Begriffe in dieser Theorie nicht durch die Beobachtung als 

 zwingend erwiesen werden kann, dann ist sie eben keine naturwissenschaftliche 

 Theorie, sondern leere Phantasterei und^gehort statt auf den Katheder in 

 die Rumpelkammer der Wissenschaft 1 " 



II " Charles Darwin et ses precurseurs Frangais," p. 151. 



^ " La vie des etres animes," p. 161. 



