DARWINISM AND EVOLUTION 45 



but if we carefully examine the meaning of obscure 

 expressions such as the vital affinities of the 

 biophores, etc., we finally discover that they conceal 

 the ideas of purpose or design, of adaptiveness, 

 and of capacity of reaction under external stimulus ; 

 in short, these expressions include all the interior 

 laws of evolution, which were supposed to be set 

 aside. I believe therefore that Weismann s Neo- 

 Darwinism actually serves to prove that Darwin^ 

 theory of selection is untenable, if it is carried too 

 far. 



Not long ago I studied very carefully the new 

 edition of Professor Plate s work on Darwin s 

 principle of selection. It is perhaps the best work 

 that has recently been written in support of this 

 theory. What interested me most in reading it, 

 was to see how the most faithful adherents of the 

 principle of selection have at last begun to recognise 

 its limitations. Professor Plate states them quite 

 calmly and fairly, but on the other hand he seems 

 to me to go a little too far in emphasising the 

 merits of this principle. I do not agree with him 

 on several points, especially I think him wrong 

 in rejecting the interior laws of evolution and 

 teleology ; but we undoubtedly owe Professor 

 Plate a debt of gratitude for his excellent criticism 

 of Darwin s principle of selection. 



I need not waste time in discussing the so-called 

 Darwinian theory of the universe, because it is 

 identical with that realistic and monistic theory 



