vi PREFACE 



they evolve new structures in adaptation to 

 their new environments, but that these acquired 

 characters can become hereditary. 



Now this was exactly Darwin's own alternative 

 to his original theory expressed by the title of 

 his book, " The Origin of Species by Means 

 of Natural Selection." 



A curious fact will be disclosed in the first 

 chapter, viz., that present-day Darwinians con- 

 tradict Darwin in several ways ; whereas not a 

 line or a word in the whole of this book itself 

 is opposed to Darwin's own description of what 

 he briefly called " the Definite Action " of the 

 environment ; by which, as he asserts " new 

 sub- varieties arise without the aid of selection." 

 I have, therefore, called this process " The True 

 Darwinism." l 



Darwinians assert that variations are spon- 

 taneous and congenital, appearing in the seedlings 

 of plants and young of animals ; then, by means 

 of natural selection, the "unfit" are supposed 

 to be eliminated and the " fittest " to survive. 

 It would seem that this view is a sequel to 

 Dr Weismann's assertion, that, as acquired 

 characters cannot be inherited, the new variations 

 must originate in the germ-plasm, there being 

 no other theory conceivable. 



1 " Nineteenth Century and After," November 1906, p. 795. 



