10 Darwin's Predecessors 



down the opposition which tlie most scientific had felt to the 

 seductive modal formula of evolution by bringing forward a more 

 plausible theory of the process than had been previously suggested. 

 Nor can one forget, since questions of this magnitude are human 

 and not merely academic, that he wrote so that all men could 

 understand. 



As Regards the Factors of Evolution. 



It is admitted by all who are acquainted with the history of 

 biology that the general idea of organic evolution as expressed in 

 the Doctrine of Descent was quite familiar to Darwin's grandfather, 

 and to others before and after him, as we have briefly indicated. It 

 must also be admitted that some of these pioneers of evolutionism did 

 more than apply the evolution-idea as a modal formula of becoming, 

 they began to inquire into the factors in the process. Thus there 

 were pre-Darwinian theories of evolution, and to these we must now 

 briefly refer \ 



In all biological thinking we have to work with the categories 

 Organism — Function — Environment, and theories of evolution may 

 be classified in relation to these. To some it has always seemed that 

 the fundamental fact is the living organism, — a creative agent, a 

 striving will, a changeful Proteus, selecting its environment, adjusting 

 itself to it, self-diflerentiating and self-adaptive. The necessity of 

 recognising the importance of the organism is admitted by all 

 Darwinians who start with inborn variations, but it is open to 

 question whether the whole truth of what we might call the 

 Goethian position is exhausted in the postulate of inherent varia- 

 bility. 



To others it has always seemed that the emphasis should be laid 

 on Function, — on use and disuse, on doing and not doing. Practice 

 makes perfect ; c'est a force de forger qu'ou dev lent forger on. This 

 is one of the fundamental ideas of Lamarckism ; to some extent 

 it met with Darwin's approval ; and it finds many supporters to-day. 

 One of the ablest of these — Mr Francis Darwin — has recently given 

 strong reasons for combining a modernised Lamarckism with what 

 we usually regard as sound Darwinism^. 



To others it has always seemed that the emphasis should be laid 

 on the Environment, which wakes the organism to action, prompts it 

 to change, makes dints upon it, moulds it, prunes it, and finally, 

 perhaps, kills it. It is again impossible to doubt that there is truth 



» See Prof. W. A. Locy's Biology and iU Makers. New York, 1908. Part n. "The 

 Doctrine of Organic Evolution." 



» Presidential Address to the British Association meeting at Dublin in 1908. 



