362 SOME NEW BOOKS [NovVEMBER 
we do not find this little book remarkable in any of these respects. It seems 
to us interesting rather as a clear exposition of the conclusions of one who 
began to write upon Darwinism in 1861, who has carefully examined many 
phases of evolutionary opinion, who remains after all a loyal Darwinian. 
As one would expect from the author’s varied contributions to natural 
history the book is saved by many concrete illustrations from seeming a merely 
logical discussion, and the exposition is on the whole delightfully clear, though 
it seems sanguine to hope that it will be altogether understood at the first 
reading. It requires some careful leading up before the reader can face with 
safety such a sentence as—‘‘ These indefinite variations may become definite 
through repetition ; and are controlled in their development by the principle of 
selection, sometimes aided by use-inheritance.” 
As an old experienced hand, Captain Hutton is very careful in his use of 
terms, but occasionally his usage seems open to question. He speaks, for 
instance, of “the theory of development” contained in the “Origin of 
Species,” but this phrase is more appropriately kept for the attempts to under- 
stand ontogeny. Similarly, when he says that ‘‘selection has no power if the 
individuals are not competing,” he is either guilty of gross exaggeration or of 
an unjustifiable use of the word “compete,” which seems almost irrelevant in 
those cases where the struggle is between the living creature and the inanimate 
environment. It seems to us also regrettable that the author does not take 
advantage of the distinction between modifications and variations which has 
been clearly defined and widely accepted, and saves a lot of time. 
As to up-to-dateness, the book shows much of this quality, and yet not quite 
enough, for it is regrettable that suggestions like those in Weismann’s “‘ Germinal 
Selection,” or in the so-called ‘‘ Organic Selection Theory,” should have been 
passed over in silence. 
The first lecture on the scope and limitations of Darwinism is a fine illus- 
tration of successful exposition, to which personal reminiscences add interest. 
How many pages might have been saved—might still be saved—for more 
profitable use if critics would study Darwin’s works as the author has done, or 
would even carefully acquaint themselves with a summary like this lecture. 
We need only recall Darwin’s sentence—‘‘ Natural selection has no relation 
whatever to the primary cause of any modification of structure”—as a good 
instance of one of those so often forgotten. 
The essence of the new Darwinism, according to the author, is found in the 
theory of isolation, which furnishes some sort of interpretation of the persistence 
of useless characters and incipient useful characters, and of the origin of 
divergence. A further difficulty—the existence of mutual sterility between 
different species—remains ; but the author gets rid of it by saying :—‘‘It has 
been shown to be outside Darwinism altogether; which is a theory of the 
preservation and development of variations, and not of their origin.” As an 
example of the style, we may cite from this lecture the following passage :— 
““We may liken the progress of organic evolution to the march of an army, 
which is continually throwing off numerous scouting parties, who penetrate into 
every nook and cranny, and leave nothing unexplored. The few that find 
roads, lead off part of the army after them; while the majority, who fail to do 
so, perish on their tracks, and are heard of no more. Natural selection 
preserves and intensifies adaptations, or utilitarian characters only ; isolation 
preserves both utilitarian and non-utilitarian characters. Progress is due to the 
former, variety to the latter.” Thus the new Darwinism lifts us ‘‘out of the 
deadly region of utilitarianism into an altogether higher and purer air.” 
Indeed, the air is so high and pure that we find it unsuitable for everyday 
respiration, for the author leads us to ‘‘the conclusion that all these so-called 
useless structures, all that give us beauty and variety, have been specially 
designed for man’s education.” 
A condensed statement of the author’s views would read somewhat as 
