CHAPTER XVII 



THEORIES OF EVOLUTION: LAMARCK, DARWIN 



THE impression so generally entertained that the doctrine 

 of organic evolution is a vague hypothesis, requiring for its 

 support great stretches of the imagination, gives way upon an 

 examination of the facts, and we come to recognize that it is 

 a well-founded theory, resting upon great accumulations of 

 evidence. If the matter could rest here, it would be rela- 

 tively simple; but it is necessary to examine into the causes 

 of the evolutionary process. While scientific observation has 

 shown that species are not fixed, but undergo transforma- 

 tions of considerable extent, there still remains to be accounted 

 for the way in which these changes have been produced. 



One may assume that the changes in animal life are the 

 result of the interaction of protoplasm and certain natural 

 agencies in its surroundings, but it is evidently a very diffi- 

 cult matter to designate the particular agencies or factors of 

 evolution that have operated to bring about changes in spe- 

 cies. The attempts to indicate these factors give rise to differ- 

 ent theories of evolution, and it is just here that the contro- 

 versies concerning the subject come in. We must remember, 

 however, that to-day the controversies about evolution are 

 not as to whether it was or was not the method of creation, 

 but as to the factors by which the evolution of different 

 forms was accomplished. Says Packard: "We are all evo- 

 lutionists, though we may differ as to the nature of the 

 efficient causes." 



Of the various theories which had been advanced to 



374 



