REPAIRS AND REGENERATION 169 



no lens ever was made before so far as we 

 know or indeed can imagine. Hence this experi- 

 ment shows the restorative powers of the triton 

 organisation in a most remarkable manner. 



It is scarcely possible to overestimate the 

 importance of this crucial experiment, but the 

 following quotation from Driesch * will em- 

 phasise this fact. " In the year 1894 Wolff 

 followed his critique " [on Darwinism] " by 

 an experiment which was expressly undertaken 

 as a solution of the question : Darwinism or 

 Teleology ? His aim was to see whether an 

 organism could restore an organ extracted from 

 it for the first time in its development, and to 

 examine how this restitution was accomplished. 

 4 Primary finality ' was to be proved by the 

 positive outcome of the experiment, which 

 would, on the one hand reduce Darwinism 

 ad absurdum and, on the other through the 

 fact of purposive adaptation, go to support 

 teleology in a very significant form." [The 

 experiment described in the text is then 

 detailed.] " Thus was 6 primary finality ' 

 demonstrated." 



A few further examples of this kind amongst 

 invertebrates (where the instances are legion) 

 may now be detailed. 



Observers of the common objects of the sea- 



* History, p. 175. 



