DISCUSSION 201 



the theistic theory, as are contained in my 

 Berlin lectures. 



XI. DR. THESING'S SPEECH. 



The speaker began by saying that his audience 

 must be as tired of the discussion as he was himself, 

 therefore he would make his remarks as short as 

 possible, especially as the most essential scientific 

 points, which he might otherwise have discussed, 

 had already been dealt with by one or other of the 

 previous speakers. He was surprised to see how 

 completely they were all of one mind in their 

 opposition to Father Wasmann, and he was glad 

 to have an opportunity of expressing his own 

 agreement with him on several points, and particu- 

 larly on some very important matters, e.g. on the 

 view which Father Wasmann took of Darwin's 

 theory of selection, to which it was wrong to ascribe 

 as much importance as many people were still 

 inclined to do. It might be regarded as a subsidiary 

 hypothesis, presupposing the presence in the organism 

 of something else, viz. of internal forces. Dr. 

 Thesing declared this to be his own opinion, and he 

 said that he differed from Father Wasmann only in 

 one ' small detail ' ; whereas the latter regarded the 

 interior causes as a part of the divine Will or of the 

 Deity, and so proclaimed them to be something 



