FROM MR. MELROSE'S LIST. 



DARWINISM AND 

 HUMAN LIFE 



By PROF. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A. 



University of A berdeen 



Fourth Impression (Second Edition). Demy 8v0, cloth, 78. 6d. net. 



THIS volume, which is a convenient handbook of Evolution-Theory, consists 

 of the lectures delivered by Prof. J. Arthur Thomson in August and September 

 1909 in several of the most important towns of South Africa under the auspices 

 of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. 



The scope of the book is indicated by the titles of the six chapters : 

 I. WHAT WE OWE TO DARWIN. A general Introduction. 



II. THE WEB OF LIFE. The fundamental Darwinian conception of the inter- 

 Relations of living creatures. 



III. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. All the reactions of living creatures again 



limitations and difficulties. 



IV. THE RAW MATERIALS OF EVOLUTION. The inborn variations that are 



always cropping up. 



V. FACTS OF INHERITANCE. Heredity as the internal condition of all evolution. 

 VI. SELECTION : ORGANIC AND SOCIAL. Directive factors in evolution. 



It is the first aim of the volume to explain, without unnecessary techni- 

 cality but without false simplicity, the gist of Darwinism in the wide sense 

 what problems Darwin set himself to solve, and what solutions he arrived at. 



Secondly, the book seeks to show what progress has been made as regards 

 the problems of organic evolution since Darwin's day, since the publication of 

 "The Origin of Species" fifty years ago what has been added to Darwinism, 

 what, if anything, has been taken away, and, especially, what is now being 

 reconsidered. It is hoped that the exposition of recent steps of progress may 

 be of value to those who have not had time or opportunity to follow in detail 

 the continued evolution of evolution-theory. 



Thirdly, an endeavour necessarily straitened by the limits of the course 

 has been made, at point after point, to suggest how Darwinism touches 

 everyday life, in farm and garden, in city and empire. The last lecture, in 

 particular, shows how closely Darwinism touches human life. 



The lectures were attended by very large audiences in Cape Town, Stellen- 

 bosch, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Maritzburg, Durban, East 

 London, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, and other centres, and though they 

 were very fully and ably reported at the time in the leading newspapers, it is 

 thought that many will be glad to have them in more permanent form. 



The book bears this dedication : 



DEDICATION 



This short course of lectures on a great theme is a centenary tribute to 

 Charles Darwin, but I wish also to ask the many friends who made 

 me no stranger in their country men and women of diverse opinions^ 

 at one however in their evolutionist outlook and in their food-will 

 to lay it on the threshold of United South Africa, Quodbonum,felix, 

 faustumque sit I 



ANDREW MELROSE LTD., 3 York Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. 

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