THE UNKNOWN FACTORS OF EVOLUTION. 97 



THE OUTLOOK FOR INDUCTION. 



The problem just raised is the main one. No longer 

 misled by palingenic variation under revival of an ancient 

 environment, let us set ourselves rigidly to the analysis and 

 investigation of the responses of the organism to new environ- 

 ment, in all four stages of development. Are these responses 

 adaptive ? Is there a teleological mechanism in living matter 

 as Pfliiger l has expressed it ? Is this mechanism in the adult 

 reflected in the germ ? 



One most hopeful outlook is in Experimental Evolution. 

 Bacon in his Nova Atlantis three centuries ago projected an 

 institute for such experiments, which when it finally material- 

 izes should be known as the Baconian Institute. The late Mr. 

 Romanes proposed to establish such a station at Oxford, and 

 went so far as to institute an important series of private ex- 

 periments, which were unfortunately interrupted by his death. 

 What we wish to ascertain is, whether new ontogenic variations 

 become phylogenic, and how much time this requires. 



The conditions of a crucial experiment may be stated as 

 follows : An organism A, with an environment or habit A, is 

 transferred to environment or habit B, and after one or more 

 generations exhibits variations B ; this organism is then re- 

 transferred to environment or habit A, and if it still exhibits, 

 even for a single generation, or transitorily, any of the varia- 

 tions B, the experiment is a demonstration of the inheritance 

 of ontogenic variations. These are virtually the conditions 

 rightly demanded by Neo-Darwinians for an absolute demon- 

 stration, either of Lamarck's or Buffon's principle of the 

 inheritance of embryogenic or somatogenic variation. There 

 is no record that such conditions have as yet been fulfilled, 

 for hitherto organisms have been simply retained in a new 

 environment, and the profound modifications which are ex- 

 hibited may simply be the exponents of an hereditary mech- 

 anism acting under the influence of new forces. Such experi- 

 ments will probably require an extended period of time, for we 

 learn from palaeontology, as well as from palingenic variation, 



1 Pfluger: Die teleologischen Mechanik der lebenden Natur. Bonn, 1877. 



