PREFACE. 



The article which constitutesthis brochure appear 

 ed in the American Cathol>c Quarterly Review for 

 January of the present ye6r under the title "Father 

 Wasmann and Evolution" and at once commanded 

 widespread attention. The "Quarterly," however, 

 having like all reviews a comparatively limited 

 field, the article was inaccessible to many persons 

 who are deeply interested in the problem of evo 

 lution. Few magazine articles have been commented 

 on so freely, and often this comment has been, it may 

 be added without ostentation, so favorable that many 

 persons have expressed disappointment on being 

 unable to obtain a copy of the Review in which the 

 article appeared. For this reason it has been deemed 

 advisable to publish the article in detached form in 

 order to bring it within the reach of all who are inter 

 ested in the subject. 



The essay is in the form of a criticism of Father 

 Wasmann's book, but it deals with the very funda 

 mentals on which the theory of evolution is based, 

 while it pursues an entirely new line of argument 

 differing radically from the ordinary objections 

 brought against the doctrine of cosmical develop 

 ment. 



Although the article is written by a Catfipjic_j3nest 

 in criticism of a work by a Catholic priest and a 

 Jesuit it is wholly with the scientific and philosoph 

 ical aspects of the problem that it deals, and it thus 

 appeals with equal force to every class of reader. 



Few changes have been made from the original 

 form of the article: an additional footnote or two, the 

 correction of some typographical errors, and the 

 substitution of a new title for the original which now 

 passes to the second place and becomes a sub-title. 

 A brief sentence is also added at the close, 



