Translator s Preface. xiii 



to (< pure materialism," a denunciation which may 

 appear somewhat alarming to the uninitiated, but 

 which may not seem fraught with any serious 

 consequences to those who have followed the 

 course of philosophical speculation during the last 

 few years. Those who attack the doctrine on 

 this ground will however do well to consider Prof. 

 Weismann's views set forth in the last essay 

 in this volume, before hastily assuming that the 

 much dreaded " materialism " is incompatible with 

 any other conception of Nature. 



The small amount of leisure time which I have 

 been able to devote to the translation of this 

 volume has delayed its completion considerably 

 beyond the anticipated time, and it was with a 

 view to meeting this difficulty that I departed 

 from the original form of the German edition and 

 issued it in parts. Owing to the extremely 

 idiomatic character of the German text, I have 

 throughout endeavoured to preserve only the 

 author's meaning, regardless of literal translation 

 or of the construction of the original. In some 

 few cases, however, I have intentionally adopted 

 literal translations of certain technical expressions 

 which might, I think, be advantageously intro- 

 duced into our biological vocabularies. Some 

 alterations have been made in the original text 

 by the author for the present edition, and many 

 new notes have been added. For those bearing 

 my initials I am alone responsible. 



