384 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



Darwinism Not Evolution. 



Darwinism, as has already been remarked, is not 

 Evolution ; neither is Lamarckism nor Neo-Lamarck- 

 ism. The theories which go by these names, as well 

 as sundry others, are but tentative explanations of 

 the methods by which Evolution has acted, and of the 

 processes which have obtained in the growth and 

 development of the organic world. They may be 

 true or false, although all of them undoubtedly 

 contain at least an element of truth, but whether 

 true or false, the great central conception of Evolu- 

 tion remains unaffected. Whether natural selection 

 has been the chief agent in the Evolution of plants 

 and animals, as Darwin and Wallace contend, or 

 whether the influence of activity and environment 

 has been a more potent factor, as Lamarck and Cope 

 maintain, is as yet uncertain. But be this as it 

 may, it matters not. It is still far from certain that 

 we have discovered the leading factor or factors of 

 Evolution. All theories so far advanced, to account 

 for the phenomena of change .and development, are 

 at best but guesses and provisional hypotheses ; and 

 no serious man of science claims that they are any- 

 thing more. They have unquestionably contributed 

 much towards the advancement of the science of 

 biology, and have enabled naturalists to group to- 

 gether facts which were formerly considered as 

 disparate and irreconcilable. They have suggested 

 explanations of phenomena that were shrouded in 

 mystery, and enabled us to perceive in nature a 

 unity of plan and purpose, which, without such 



