30 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



To quote Bateson as having given up his belief in evo- 

 lution, and in doing so to disregard this closing statement 

 of his address, is plain dishonesty. In such ways are 

 the people being imposed upon. 



One of the curious facts in reference to the current dis- 

 cussion of evolution, which shows great lack of informa- 

 tion, is the confusion of evolution with Darwinism. As 

 you know, Darwin's explanation of the fact of evolution 

 is simply one of a number of explanations, and it belongs 

 to the mediaeval period in the history of evolution, when 

 only the method of observation and inference was used. 

 Of course, Darwin's explanation came at a psychological 

 moment and attracted an attention that was wholly a sur- 

 prise to him. It is this fact that has made his explana- 

 tion so famous that many think that Darwinism and evo- 

 lution are synonymous. 



With this preface, dealing with the present commo- 

 tion concerning evolution, a preface hardly pertinent to 

 this occasion, but perhaps excusable under the circum- 

 stances, I shall now address myself to a scientific group, 

 a group which I am assuming is not troubled by doubts 

 as to the fact of evolution. 



The problem that faces us is the explanation of evolu- 

 tion. All of the explanations proposed thus far may 

 prove inadequate and still the fact remain to be ex- 

 plained. In the early history of the subject, simple 

 explanations were offered. As facts multiplied, however, 

 and especially such facts as genetics has been uncover- 

 ing, it became evident that evolution is not a single prob- 

 lem, but a complex of problems, involving a multitude of 

 factors. It is obvious now that no single explanation can 

 be adequate for all the phenomena of evolution. It may 

 be said that all of the classic explanations explain some 

 things, but no one of them can explain all things. The 

 present status' of evolution will be appreciated more 

 clearly if we evaluate the classic explanations in the light 

 of recent knowledge. 



Lamarck's explanation encountered the obstacle of the 

 inheritance of acquired characters. Biologists presently 

 became convinced that acquired characters are not in- 

 herited, and therefore Lamark's explanation was thrown 



