EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION 



LECTURE I 



Summary The Problem of the Living World The three Hypotheses 

 concerning it General Statement of the Evolution-hypothesis 

 Gradual Growth of this Hypothesis, considered especially in French 

 Literature: Claude Duret (1605); de Maillet (1749); Robinet 

 (1766); Buffon (1761-6); Lamarck (1800); Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 

 etc. Naudin (Revue Horticole, 1852) anticipates the Natural 

 Selection Theory General Proofs of Evolution : Palaeontological, 

 Embryological, Morphological These Proofs not absolutely con- 

 clusive Direct Proof is wanted, and wanting Nothing will suffice 

 but the Transformation of one Species into another : Experimental 

 Evolution necessary. 



DURING countless ages, of which centuries are mere 

 moments, and whose number and length we can yet 

 by no known method pretend to appreciate, our 

 planet an atom amidst an infinite world of similar 

 bodies has been teeming with life. Innumerable 

 millions of plants and animals have lived and died, 

 on the earth, in the waters, in the air ; and if we can 



B 



