EDITORS' PREFACE TO SECOND 



EDITION. 



In preparing a Second Edition of Professor Weismann's 

 Essays we have thought it best to adopt a two-volume form 

 and to reprint the contents of the First Edition as Volume I. 

 Onl}^ a very few verbal alterations and corrections were 

 necessary, so that purchasers of the first edition can bring 

 their knowledge of Professor Weismann's views up to date b}^ 

 obtaining the second volume of the present edition. 



It has been a great satisfaction to find that such widespread 

 interest has been excited by the essays which are now re- 

 printed. The numerous and often important reviews have 

 almost without exception been animated by a tolerant and 

 scientific spirit, equally apparent in those which opposed as 

 in those which supported the argument of the essays. 



The list of references to the various volumes, articles, and 

 letters, which have been published since the appearance of the 

 first edition in 1889, and which treat of the subject of the essa3^s, 

 has been prepared by Mr. Shipley. 



In the preparation of the second volume, which will appear 

 shortly, we have unfortunately lost the services of Dr. Schon- 

 land owing to his appointment as Curator of Grahamstown 

 Museum. This volume, which will consist of four additional 

 essays, will contain a Preface by Professor Weismann. 



One of the four essays, ' Remarks on Certain Problems of 

 the Day,' has been already translated in full and published in 

 the columns of ' Nature ' (Vol. XLI, pp. 317-323). The German 

 original (' Bemerkungen zu einigen Tages-Problemen ') was 



