EVOLUTION AND ANIMAL LIFE 



CHAPTER I 

 EVOLUTION DEFINED 



Grau, theurer Freund, ist alle Theorie, 

 Und griin des Lebeiis gold'ner Bauin. 



— ClOETHE. 



Men of science repudiate the opinion that natural hnvs are rulers 

 and governors of nature, looking with suspicion on all " necessary " and 

 universal laws. — Brooks. 



This volume treats of the elements of the science of Orj^anic 

 Evolution. To this science belongs the consideration of tlie 

 forces which govern the changes in organisms. It includes the 

 influences w^hich control development in the individual and in 

 the species wdiich is the succession of individuals, together with 

 the laws or observed sequences of events which development 

 exhibits. From another point of view, this is the science of' 

 life — adaptation. The term Bionomics (fitds, Ufe, vo'/xos, order 

 or custom), first suggested by Prof. Patrick Geddes, is essen- 

 tially equivalent to the older term Organic Evolution, the 

 science of the facts, processes, and laws involved in the nuitation 

 of organisms. For many reasons, this new name, Bionomics, 

 w^ith its technically exact meaning, should be preferred to the 

 phrase Organic Evolution, as, unlike the latter, it involves no 

 philosophic assumptions. 



That organs and organisms do change from day to day, and 

 place to place, and from generation to generation is an observed 

 fact, -which now^ admits of no doubt. The orderly ari-angement 

 of our knowledge of this process constitutes a branch of science. 

 To use the word evolution in regard to this jirocess is to use a 

 philosophic term in connection with a group of scientific facts. 

 For the word evolution means unrolling. It carries the thought 



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D. H. HILL LIBRARY 

 North GH-olina State College 



