MIRACLES OF SCIENCE 



tion of the problem is a new and highly interesting 

 one. The originality, breadth of treatment, accuracy, 

 and technical skill of the author are not questioned. 

 Whether in the end his theory be accepted or re- 

 jected, it will remain a creditable product of Ameri- 

 can scholarship. 



EVOLUTION THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION 



Such studies as this show that speculation as to 

 the precise line of man's early ancestry has been by * 

 no means idle. Yet it is doubtless true that the main 

 body of biological workers of the present generation 

 are chiefly concerned not with the origin of the main 

 stem itself, but with the forces that have been at 

 work in modifying the descendants. And in very 

 recent years a vast amount of information has been 

 gathered regarding the influences through which 

 vegetable and animal organisms may be modified. 

 Already important applications of this knowledge are 

 being made, and it is probable that vastly more im- 

 portant ones will be made in the not distant future, 

 which will vitally influence the well-being of the hu- 

 man race. 



To understand the bearings of the new knowledge 

 we must first very briefly review the essential ideas 

 connected with the Darwinian conception of the 

 origin of species. 



The essence of the Darwinian doctrine is the idea 

 that evolution has taken place through the preserva- 

 tion of what Darwin spoke of as favored races. The 

 struggle for existence is everywhere hard, and only 

 a very small proportion of creatures born into the 



