1 84 OrtJioplasy 



tion. * As the primary variations,' says Weismann, ' in 

 the phyletic metamorphosis occurred httle by Httle, tJie 

 scco]idary adaptations ivould probably, as a ride, be able 

 to keep pace with them. Time would thus be gained, till, 

 in the course of generations, by constant selection of those 

 germs, the primary constituents of wJdcli are best fitted to 

 one another ... a definite metamorphosis of the species, 

 involving all the parts of the organism, may occur.' In 

 this passage (which has been quoted by Osborn and 

 others to show that this writer anticipated the principle 

 of organic selection^) Weismann recognizes the essential 

 cooperation of variation and modification which organic 

 selection postulates, but Jie reverses the order of these 

 factors by making germinal variations (in the words itali- 

 cized above by the present writer) the leading agency in 

 the determination of the course of evolution, while indi- 

 vidual accommodation and modification * probably keep 

 pace with them ' (the primary variations). The writers 

 who originally expounded organic selection rely upon 

 variation to * keep pace,' under the action of natural selcc- 



1 The two other authorities whose theories have been similarly cited are 

 Delage and Pfeffer (see Davenport in The Psychological Review, IV., Novem- 

 ber, 1897, P- 676). Both these vv^riters, however, as I read them, stop sub- 

 stantially with intra-selection — and ' struggle of parts ' — 'repeating its results 

 anew in each generation,' i.e., with increased plasticity and continued ac- 

 commodation. Delage has himself confirmed this interpretation in writing 

 explicitly upon organic selection (see Annee Biologique, III., 1899, p. 512). 

 The view of Pfeffer on this point is indicated by the lines quoted by Daven- 

 port in the place cited just above to the effect that, given struggle for existence 

 and the resulting individual modifications, ' the remaining part of the Dar- 

 winian theory, namely, the gradual production of new races and species, seems 

 consequently unnecessary.' In other words, both these writers are * Organicists ' 

 who do not combine that position with the natural selection of variations. 

 Dclage's work is that on Striichire du Protoplasma, &*c., already frequently 

 cited (see especially pp. 824-833) ; Pfeffer's theory is in Verhandltcngcn dcs 

 naturwissenKhafllichen Vcreins in Hamburg, 1 893, pp. 44 ff. 



