THE PEESENT STATE OF THE PROBLEM OF 

 EVOLUTION.! 



By Prof. M. Caulleby. 



The exchange of professors between the Sorbonne and Harvard 

 University for the first time brings to Cambridge a professor of 

 science. In a certain way I come in return for the visits which Prof. 

 M. Bocher and Prof. W. M. Davis have already made to the faculty 

 of sciences at Paris. All my predecessors belonged to our faculty 

 of letters. All have brought back a recollection of the hearty wel- 

 come which they received, and what they told me contributed largely 

 in inducing me to accept the mission which was offered to me. I had 

 the assurance of good will and generous sympathy from my eol- 

 leagues as well as from my pupils. 



In the beginning I must excuse myself for not being able to express 

 myself, at least for the present, in English. The most important 

 point in teaching is clearness in expressing thoughts. By speaking 

 to you in my own language I hope to succeed much better in a diffi- 

 cult subject, and for that reason to obtain forgivness for the effort 

 which, to my regret, I occasion you. 



The purpose of the exchange between the two universities is to 

 convey to the one the methods of teaching employed in the other. 

 I have the honor to occupy at the University of Paris a chair of 

 biology especially devoted to the study of the evolution of organic 

 beings. It is then to the present state of this great problem that the 

 lectures which I am going to give will be dedicated. I do not enter 

 upon this subject here without some apprehension. Certain of my 

 predecessors by the very nature of their subjects were able to have, 

 at least, the illusion that Europe is still the veritable center of learn- 

 ing. But I have not this advantage. The necessary conditions for 

 the development of the sciences are now at least as well fulfilled — I 

 will even say better fulfilled — in the United States than in Europe, 

 and for many of the sciences Europeans coming to this country have 

 as much to learn as to teach. This seems to me particularly the case 



1 An iHtroductory lecture In a course offered by Prof. M. Caullery as exchange professor 

 at Harvard University, Feb. 24, 1916. Translated from the French by Mrs. C. H. Grand- 

 gent. Reprinted from Science, April 21, 1916. 



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