vi Preface 



for some Rationalists insist upon "observation 

 and experiment" as the only acceptable kind of 

 proof of God — a method of evidence obviously 

 out of the question — and they moreover assert 

 that whatever cannot be brought within these two 

 things is not to be accepted as science or know- 

 ledge. 



As Materialistic Monists, such as Haeckel and 

 Biichner, state categorically that "Darwinism" 

 forms the basis of their Atheistic views, it is 

 necessary to discuss the principles of Evolution 

 and its methods. It will be seen that certain distinct 

 assumptions were made by Darwin — upon which 

 his special theory of TAe Origin of Species by 

 means of Natural Selection, known as " Dar- 

 winism," is founded — but they have no foundation 

 in fact. 



On the other hand, his alternative explanation — 

 which he for the most part regarded as too rarely 

 occurring to be worthy of consideration at any 

 length, viz., by what he called the " Definite action 

 of the Environment" has been now proved to be 

 really the true and only method in the origin of 

 species. This I have called the " True Darwinism," 

 but it has already received in Botany the title of 

 " Ecology ". 



Then, as Dr. Weismann has asserted, contrary to 

 Darwin's opinion, as also of Haeckel's, that char- 

 acters acquired by the soma cannot be hereditary. 



