Foreword 



do to secondary matters, do not carry conviction or 

 lead to a conclusion. 



Conformably to the method explained above, I shall 

 neglect these arguments on details and only consider 

 immediately and directly the essential and primordial 

 difficulties, which are the only real difficulties, of 

 transformism. The secondary imperfections of the 

 naturalistic edifice matter little; the essential is to 

 ascertain whether the body of this edifice, its framework 

 and keystones, are strong or weak. 



There are five capital difficulties in classical trans- 

 formism, viz.: 



1 . The failure of the classical factors to explain the 



origin of species. 



2. The failure of the classical factors to explain the 



origin of instincts. 



3. The failure of the classical factors to explain the 



abrupt and creative transformations of new 

 species. 



4. The failure of the classical factors to explain the 



immediate and definitive * crystallisation ' of 

 the essential characteristics of new species or new 

 instincts the fact that these characteristics, in 

 their main outlines, are very rapidly acquired 

 and once acquired, remain immutable. 



5. The failure of the classical factors to resolve the 



general philosophic difficulty with regard to 

 evolution, which makes the complex proceed 

 from the simple and the greater from the less. 

 Let us now study these five essential difficulties. 



