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From BEDROCK, No. 1, April, 1912, pp. 48—65. 



DARWIN AND BERGSON 



ON THE INTERPRETATION OF 



EVOLUTION. 



By E. B. Poulton. 



The idea of an evolution driven onward from within, little affected 

 or not affected at all by natural selection, has risen and declined 

 again and again during the past half-century. But never before 

 has the hypothesis of a creative " internal developmental force " 

 been brought forward in so arresting a form as in the writings of 

 Bergson. Here, in an argument adorned with literary charm, wide 

 knowledge, profound and original thought, the distinguished author 

 develops the conception of a primaeval impulse, started with life 

 itself, gathering impetus in its onward rush, dividing and expressing 

 itself in the unceasing creation of endlessly varied forms. 



In attempting to compare, within the necessary limits of an article, 

 Bergson's conception of evolution with that of Darwin and Wallace, 

 it appeared that the wisest course would be to restrict the discussion 

 to certain definite problems. I propose, therefore, to confine 

 myself to the nature of instinct and the growth of a mimetic resemblance 

 — two problems on which much light has been thrown by recent 

 research. Both problems are of high importance, and if, as I hope 

 to show, in both the Bergsonian solution breaks down before the 

 Darwinian, it is exceedingly improbable that there will be any 

 other result when the same rival hypotheses are pitted against each 

 other in any part of the field of evolution. The Darwinian looks 

 upon instinct as an action performed under the compulsion of the 

 nervous system. It depends, as Lloyd Morgan states, on the manner 

 in which the nervous system is built through heredity. This system 

 is so built in all animals that certain actions must follow certain 

 stimuli. Instincts are of this class, and they have been gradually 



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