ORGANIC EVOLUTION 347 



over the evolution- theory, and that it was bej^n'nnin.i^ to sur- 

 render it. Such statements are misleach'n.L^ and tend to jht 

 petuate the confusion regarding its j^rescnt status. P^urlher- 

 more, the matter as set forth in writings h'ke the grotesque 

 little book, At the Deathbed oj Darwinism tends to becloud 

 rather than to clear the atmosphere. 



The theory of organic e\olution relates to the history of 

 animal and plant life, while Darwin's theory of natural selec- 

 tion is only one of the various attempts to j)oint out the 

 causes for that history's being what it is. An attack upon 

 Darwinism is not, in itself, an attack upon the general the- 

 ory, but upon the adequacy of his exjjlanation of the way 

 in which nature has brought about the diversity of animal 

 and plant life. Natural selection is the particular factor 

 which Darwin has emphasized, and the discussion of the 

 part played by other factors tends only to extend the knowl- 

 edge of the evolutionary process, without detracting from it 

 as a general theory. 



While the controversies among scientific men relate lor 

 the most part to the inl^uences that have been operative in 

 bringing about organic evolution, nevertheless there are a few 

 in the scientific camp who repudiate the doctrine. Fleisch- 

 mann, of Erlangen, is perhaps the most cons})icuous of those 

 who are directing criticism against the general doctrine, 

 maintaining that it is untenable. Working biologists will bi- 

 the first to admit that it is not demonstrated by indubital)le 

 evidence, but the weight of evidence is so com])elling that 

 scientific men as a body regard the doctrine of organic evolu 

 tion as merely expressing a fact of nature, and we can not 

 in truth speak of any considerable opposition to it. Sinn- 

 Fleischmann speaks as an anatomist, his su])pression of 

 anatomical facts with which he is accpiainted and his form of 

 special pleading have impressed the biological world as lack- 

 ing in sincerity. 



