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attempt at thorough investigation of its value or at serious refutation of its 

 propositions has ever been made. In his " Experhnentek entomologische Studien 

 vom physikalisch-chcmischen Standpunkf aus " Prof. Bachmeijew has indeed given 

 an account of it but this has not led to any serious discussion. The Professor 

 even apologises, as it were, for giving an account of it and when he calls my 

 views " very original " this may possiby be understood to be a polite term 

 for "absurd". For thus he regards them in his narrow-mindedness and thus, 

 he supposes, correctly perhaps, that they will mostly appear to other biologists 

 of supposed scientific standing. For their point of view, like his, is the physico- 

 chemical one, in which they have been educated ; outside this only soul-saving 

 scientific dogma they deny all science, and my views based, not upon such 

 pedantry, but upon independent observation are wholly outside that dogma and 

 even reject it as such. Such an attitude is, to them, absurd and, therefore, 

 unworthy of investigation. I will not deny that a certain amount of change 

 in this attitude appears to be imminent for quite recently the following sentence 

 in an English periodical drew my attention : " It is perhaps true that physio- 

 logists are on the whole less satisfied now than formerly with the adequacy 

 of the physico-chemical explanation of vital activities". 



My opinions encounter, moreover, much opposition through the inability, so 

 general amongst biologist, of grasping the principle of evolutionary change, for 

 the phenomenon of colour evolution is simply one of its manifestations. I have 

 already stated previously that since Daravin's time the word " evolution, is met 

 everywhere but in spite of this the subject itself is as yet very little understood. 

 And no wonder. When new opinions, no matter on what subject, whether 

 religion, politics, science, or what not, make their appearance in the human 

 mind they are the result of a higher mental development, acquired in this 

 connection by certain persons and which, mostly favoured by special circum- 

 stances, have found recognition. But it does not follow from this that such a 

 higher conception penetrates the mind of every one. This can only be effected 

 after a shorter or longer interval when the general level of mental development 

 has been raised so far that this higher conception can be indentified with it. 

 Not until then can the mental processes move and work on these lines; and 

 until then this higher conception, while openly acknowledged and taught, 

 remains in reality, so to speak, unassimilated and incapable of being elaborated 

 by such persons who constitute the large majority in every region of mental 

 activity. Thus it will be seen, when Indian nations are subjected to an alien 

 higher civilization, what is called the polish of European culture is produced 

 in them — a superficial layer of imported forms, ideas, and conceptions — 

 without governing actual thought and consequent action. Thus the mental 



