66 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



but knowing no German, I have taken this opinion 

 from the resume of each of these writers, given by Pro- 

 fessor Haeckel in his ' History of Creation.' 



V. A time of retrogression, during which we find but 

 little apparent appreciation of the unity between 

 parents and offspring ; no reference to memory in con- 

 nection with heredity, whether of instinct or structure ; 

 an exaggerated view of the consequences which may be 

 deduced from the fact that the fittest commonly survive 

 in the struggle for existence ; the denial of any known 

 principle as underlying variations ; comparatively little 

 appreciation of the circumstance-suiting power of plants 

 and animals, and a rejection of purposiveness. By far 

 the most important exponent of this phase of opinion 

 concerning evolution is Mr. Charles Darwin, to whom, 

 however, we are more deeply indebted than to any 

 other living writer for the general acceptance of evo- 

 lution in one shape or another. The ' Origin of Species ' 

 appeared in 1859, the same year, that is to say, as the 

 second volume of Isidore Geoffrey 's ' Histoire Naturelle 

 Gene rale.' 



VI. A reaction against modern Darwinism, with a 

 demand for definite purpose and design as under- 

 lying variations. The best known writers who have 

 taken this line are the Eev. J. J. Murphy and Pro- 

 fessor Mivart, whose * Habit and Intelligence ' and 

 'Genesis of Species' appeared in 1869 and 1871 re- 

 spectively. In Germany Professor Hering has revived 

 the idea of memory as explaining the phenomena of 

 heredity satisfactorily, without probably having been 

 more aware that it had been advanced already than 



