302 THE THEORIES OF EVOLUTION 



main factor of organic development. Environmental 

 conditions, however, are very variable. Eimer fails to 

 determine which of them plays the principal part and, 

 in spite of his declaration of principles, he seeks in the 

 organism the factor of orthogenetic development. 

 As Eimer does not throw any light upon this factor 

 and does not relate it to any histological or physiolog- 

 ical conditions, this factor remains mysterious, not to 

 say metaphysical. 



Another exponent of the orthogenetic view is E. D. 

 Cope, who, while accepting the Lamarckian theory, 

 formulated an orthogenetic theory known as archaes- 

 thetism. Cope endeavours to explain what Darwinism 

 failed to account for, the beginning of variations. 

 They originate, he thinks, in the movements made by 

 the individual in order to satisfy its needs. "Sensa- 

 tion (consciousness) has preceded in time and history, 

 the evolution of the greater part of plants and animals 

 both unicellular and multicellular." 3 In no other 

 way can we account for the various motions of the 

 protozoa. Those movements, resulting from sensi- 

 bility, may be regarded as conscious. (Cope very 

 often uses the expression "consciousness or sensation" 

 without drawing a line between the two. ) Conscious- 

 ness, he says, coincides with the dawn of life. "The 

 automatic involuntarv movements of the heart, intes- 



s The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, Ch. X. The Function 

 of Consciousness. 



