Alfred Russel Wallace, LL. D. 



15 



known to produce types of energy which may run on in their 

 unvarying automatic courses to eternity for aught that we 

 know without betraying any indication of consciousness ex- 

 cept that their nature can only be explained on the supposi- 

 tion that consciousness was present at their inception. It is 

 also a self-evident proposition that the automatization of en- 

 ergy must be the cause of the non-adaptability of an organ- 

 ism to changes in the environment, and therefore the cause 

 of the destruction or degeneracy of organisms. The oppo- 

 site proposition is equally self-evident viz., that conscious- 

 ness or sensation is a guarantee of persistent life and adapta- 

 bility to changed environment, and therefore of progressive 

 evolution. 



In conclusion, I present a table of the alternative posi- 

 tions held by opposite schools of evolutionists, which cor- 

 respond in the main with the Neolamarckian and Neodar- 

 winian. Although particular men may not hold all the 

 affirmations of either side, they form two distinct and con- 

 sistent bodies of doctrine. 



NEOLAMARCKIAN. 



1. Variations are not promiscu- 

 ous, but definite. 



2. Variations are caused by the 

 interaction of the organic being 

 and its environment. 



3. Acquired variations may be 

 inherited. 



4. Variations survive directly 

 as they are adapted to changing 

 environments. 



5. Cause of inherited variation 

 is physical and mechanical inter- 

 action of being and environment. 



6. Movements of the organism 

 are caused or directed by sensa- 

 tion and other conscious states. 



7. Conscious experience has de- 

 veloped habitual movements of 

 the body. 



8. The rational mind is devel- 

 oped by experience i. e., memory 

 and classification, 



NEC-DARWINIAN. 



1. Variations are promiscuous 

 or multifarious. 



2. Variations are " congenital " 

 and are not caused by the inter- 

 action with the environment. 



3. Acquired variations can not 

 be inherited. 



4. Variations survive directly 

 as they are adapted to the envi- 

 ronment. 



5. Cause of inherited variation 

 is unknown or is the mingling of 

 J and $ characters in reproduc- 

 tion. 



6. Movements of organism are 

 not caused by sensation or con- 

 scious states, but are a survival by 

 natural selection from multifari- 

 ous movements. 



7. Conscious experience has de- 

 veloped mental habits only. 



8. The rational mind is devel- 

 oped by natural selection from 

 multifarious mental activities. 



