March. 1928 E \ L U T I N 



Evolution and Evolution Theories 



By Walter C. Kraatz 



Page Eleven 



IVFANY well-intentioned but much mis- 

 taken people regard evolution (cus- 

 tomarily called the theory of evolution) 

 as merely theoretical and as synonymous 

 with Darwin. Of the many ordinary mis- 

 conceptions met with by one teaching bio- 

 logy, this one of identifying Darwinism 

 with evolution is one of the most wide- 

 spread and persistent. Countless times is 

 the mistake corrected in the numerous 

 courses given and in the books on evolu- 

 tion for student and laymen, and still the 

 idea sticks, to the confusion of many, who 

 therefore are in doubt about the solid 

 establishment of evolution itself. 



Naturally if one were to approach the 

 subject without biological background and 

 without plan or system read some older 

 evolution books, including the greatest 

 classics of evolution for all time, the 

 works of Darwin, he would quite pos- 

 sibly not differentiate the two things, be- 

 cause he would be going through a lengthy 

 enumeration of facts tending to demon- 

 strate evolution, and at the same time, 

 getting most pointedly the constant ex- 

 planation of evolution by natural selec- 

 tion as given by Darwin. In the popular 

 mind and also in the careless words of 

 some science writers, evolution is identi- 

 fied with Darwinism. It should not be 

 •done, even though Darwin is the greatest 

 figure in evolutionary biology and did 

 more than anyone else to establish evolu- 

 tion, as well as offer about the most ac- 

 ceptable explanation or causal theory that 

 has been offered. Some do not agree to 

 his causal theory of natural selection, but 

 ihey are nevertheless staunch evolutionists. 

 Evolution should no more be regarded 

 as synonymous with Darwinism than gra- 

 vitation itself might be defined as syno- 

 nymous with Newtonisra (if we may use 

 the term). 



Any modern evolution textbook will pre- 

 sent this matter in a systematic way. 



Evolution, the name for the ages-long 

 gradual development of the wonderful mul- 

 titude of animal and plant species, is an 

 overly large subject to learn comprehen- 

 sively. We will not discuss it in this 

 little article, but merely see what fields of 

 evidence there are, what groups of num- 

 berless facts in nature have established 

 it, and then this little list of fields of 

 evidence will aUow us to differentiate 

 sharply from this other subject of theo- 

 ries of evolution, that is, theories of ex- 

 planation of the mode of evolution. 



There are many fields within the bio- 

 logical sciences that offer overwhelming 

 demonstration for evolution. They com- 

 prise: morphology or comparative ana- 

 tomy, classification, embr>'ology (the pre- 

 birth or pre-hatching part of the individu- 

 al's development), paleontology or the 

 study of fossils, which is the study of the 

 countless relics of the ages of life suc- 

 cession on the globe, geographical dis- 



stribution of animals and plants, the blood 

 tests, domestication, and some other ex- 

 perimental botanical and zoological lines 

 of research. It would take a series of 

 articles to explain these even very brief- 

 ly. Everyone who has learned some con- 

 siderable amount of this evidence realizes 

 that evolution is a fact, or better termed, 

 a natural process or natural law. 



But what is the mode of evolution or 

 what the process? How does it go on? 

 By what means is it working? Just what 

 are all the factors deep-seated in nature, 

 and how do they correlate to make all 

 the new species of animals and plants? 

 This is a great problem, not entirely 

 solved. This is obviously a different in- 

 quiry from that of the evidences for evolu- 

 tion itself. Evolution is history. The 

 meaning of the phrase theories of evolu- 

 tion, is not the history itself but the in- 

 herent things that cause and accomplish 

 this particular succession, or cause this 

 liistory, of new organisms. 



To answer or attempt to answer the 

 problem of the mode or method of evolu- 

 tion, or the cause of origin of new species, 

 has been the work of many biologists, and 

 has been worked up together with the ac- 

 cumulation of evidence of the fact of 

 evolution. Underlying these explanations 

 nr theories are some absolutely funda- 

 mental factors, namely heredity, variation, 

 and selection. 



The most important theories that have 

 been promulgated, without reference to 

 their present standing are: Lamarck's 

 theory, sometimes called the theory of 

 use and disuse, which is the oldest scien- 

 tific theor)- of evolution worth noting; 

 Darwin's theory, the theory of natural 

 selection or survival of the fittest, which 

 can be called Darwinism correctly; De- 

 Vries's theory or mutation theory; the 

 orthogenesis theories; isolation theories, 

 and others, some of which are best in 

 correlation with others. 



The important point in this connection 

 is that difference of opinion with respect 

 to any or all these theories has not the 

 slightest effect on evolution itself. AU 

 biologists — and everyone wonhy of the 

 name is meant here, not some teachers 

 in fundamentalist colleges who may warp 

 their biology to suit their fundamentalist 

 masters — accept evolution, though they 

 may be arguing about Darwinism, De- 

 Vries's mutation and Lamarckism. 



The public so often confuses the two, 

 evolution, and these theories of evolution. 

 In newspaper articles, particularly in the 

 glaring, ambiguous headlines, they are 

 confused time and time again. Disagree- 

 ment over some detail of the causal theo- 

 ries of evolution, denial of Darwinism or 

 of Lamarckism, is wrongfully misinterpret- 

 ed as denial of evolution. It is high time 

 that purveyors of news and opinion and 

 the public at large get this matter care 

 fully in mind. 



SHARES AVAILABLE 



The Evolution Publishing Cor- 

 poration, organized under New York 

 State laws, offers its $10.00 shares 

 of 6% preferred stock. With every five 

 shares of preferred one $10.00 share of 

 common, voting stock will be given, if 

 paid by April 13th. 



The immediate business is publish- 

 ing this journal. Evolution and 

 selling books. Later a Lyceum Bureau 

 for touring natural science lecturers 

 will be developed. 



Although it is expected the business 

 wiU pay, share-holders are not invited 

 on the basis of making profits, but be- 

 cause this work is WORTH DOING. 



Additional capital furnished now will 

 help make the circidation campaign 

 for Evolution magazine a success. 

 Checks should be made payable to 

 Evolution Publishing Corporation. 

 In remitting kindly state whether pay- 

 ment is made in full, or whether it 

 shotdd be applied on a larger block of 

 stock to be held until balance is paid. 



LET US MAIL SAMPLES TO YOUR 

 FRIENDS 



Of course you'U show this issue of 

 Evolution to your friends and ask 

 them to subscribe. But you probably 

 know some who woidd be interested, 

 whom you can not visit yourself. Send 

 us their names and addresses and we'll 

 mail them sample copies. 



It will cost us about five cents a 

 copy to send out these samples, so if 

 you can send along a check to help 

 pay for them we'll not object. How- 

 ever, if your bank account is minus 

 don't let that stop you- Send us the 

 names anyway and we'll raise the cash 

 otherwise- 



WHAT'S A HUNTER WITHOUT 

 AMMUNITION? 



A hunter without ammunition is in 

 the same fix as an evolutionist without 

 copies of Evolution. Surely YOU 

 don't want to remain in such a pickle. 

 The best way out is for yon to fill 

 in appropriate characters on the fol- 

 lowing blank in a hurry. 



Evolution Publishing Corp., 

 96 Fifth Ave., New York City. 



Send me a bundle of copies of 



Evolution every month for one year. 

 (Rate: five or more, 50c each per year) 



I enclose $ 



Street and 



Number _ 



City & 



State „ 



