ON THE GENETIC VIEW OF NATURE. 



347 



name which is so frequently associated with Darwin, 

 especially in Germany, is that of Professor Haeckel, 

 whose ' Generelle Morphologic ' and ' History of Creation ' 

 have done much to introduce the spirit of Darwinism 

 into German literature. These works also represent the 



44. 



Haeckel. 



idea of natural selection is unques- 

 tionably the most important idea 

 that has ever been conceived by the 

 mind of man. Yet the wonder is 

 that it should not have been hit 

 upon long before ; " and after re- 

 ferring to the forgotten antici- 

 pations of Wells and Matthew, 

 Romanes proceeds : " Still more 

 remarkable is the fact that Mr 

 Herbert Spencer notwithstand- 

 ing his great powers of abstract 

 thought and his great devotion of 

 those powers to the theory of evo- 

 lution, when as yet this theory was 

 scorned by science should have 

 missed what now appears so ob- 

 vious an idea." In this connection 

 it is interesting to note how those 

 general canons of evolutionary 

 thought which were established by 

 Spencer before the publication of 

 the ' Origin ' were brought into 

 general recognition by scientific 

 men only when the definite mathe- 

 matical or statistical formula of 

 natural selection was announced, 

 and that, after the lapse of a whole 

 generation, it is not this precise 

 formula but the general conception 

 of evolution which, according to 

 many of the foremost naturalists, 

 will obtain ; the part which natural 

 selection plays being uncertain and 

 variously estimated by the many 

 adherents of the theory of evolu- 

 tion. See, inter alia, the article on 

 " Evolution in Biology " by Huxley 

 in the ' Ency. Brit.,' 9th ed., vol. 

 viii. p. 751: "How far natural 

 selection suffices for the production 

 of species remains to be seen. Few 

 can doubt that, if not the whole 



cause, it is a very important factor 

 in that operation. . . . The im- 

 portance of natural selection will 

 not be impaired even if further 

 inquiries should prove that varia- 

 bility is definite and is determined 

 in certain directions rather than in 

 others by conditions inherent in 

 that which varies." See also the 

 Address of Lord Salisbury at the 

 meeting of the Brit. Assoc. at Ox- 

 ford in 1894, and the subsequent 

 remarks of Huxley in seconding the 

 vote of thanks ('Life of Huxley/ 

 vol. ii. p. 378) : " The essence of 

 this great work (the ' Origin of 

 Species ') may be stated summarily 

 thus : it affirms the mutability of 

 species and the descent of living 

 forms, separated by differences of 

 more than varietal value, from one 

 stock. . . . And yet it is also true 

 that if all the conceptions promul- 

 gated in the ' Origin of Species ' 

 which are peculiarly Darwinian 

 were swept away, the theory of 

 the evolution of animals and plants 

 would not be in the slightest degree 

 shaken." In fact, the general prin- 

 ciples of mechanical evolution, as- 

 first systematised by Mr Spencer, 

 received recognition only through a 

 definite formula, but may, after all, 

 survive that special doctrine. It 

 is further very evident how the 

 parallel with Newton's formula of 

 gravitation entirely breaks down if 

 we look at matters in this light ; 

 every subsequent discovery having 

 only tended to confirm that special 

 mathematical relation, and proved 

 the all-important part it plays in 

 nature. 



