THE STUDY OF EVOLUTION 3 



by the general public with all the signs of a genuine 

 enthusiasm ; and none, moreover, can be more fas- 

 cinating to the professional naturalist. But since the 

 time of Darwin the more popular accounts have dealt 

 almost exclusively with theoretical considerations and 

 with matters of opinion. Highly abstruse contro- 

 versies have raged freely between Neo-Lamarckians 

 and Nee-Darwinians, and these have found a place 

 in the pages of works ostensibly intended for the in- 

 struction of all and sundry ; whilst only a bare re- 

 siduum of actual matters of fact has seen the light of 

 popular publication. If the truth must be told, the 

 experimental method was given up for a long time by 

 the majority of specialists themselves in favour of the 

 controversial, and, indeed, this tendency has by no 

 means yet died out from among the habits of some 

 professed evolutionists. On the other hand, during 

 the last fifteen to twenty years, a few scattered workers 

 have diligently applied themselves to a study of the 

 facts of variation and inheritance, with results which 

 already more than justify the anticipation in which 

 their work was begun namely, that by such methods 

 alone can any real progress in our knowledge of the 

 processes of evolution be brought about. 



The science of organic evolution is by no means the 

 simple and isolated study it might be supposed to be 

 from a perusal of some of the more popular accounts. 

 Its footing rests immediately upon the widest founda- 

 tions which zoology, botany, and pliysiology can afford ; 

 and these in their turn are ultimately based upon the 

 results of chemical and physical science. But some 



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