352 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



if we admit that the change thus produced in the indi- 

 vidual is transmitted to the offspring. That such changes 

 are transmitted has, however, not yet been proved ; and a 

 considerable body of naturalists reject such transmission 

 as improbable in itself, and at all events as not to be 

 assumed without full and sufficient proof But even if 

 accepted it will not help us to explain the very great 

 number of important adaptations which, like those already 

 referred to, are quite unrelated to any direct action of the 

 environment. Having thus cleared away some pre- 

 liminary misconceptions, and stated in briefest outline the 

 main features of the law of natural selection, we may 

 proceed to consider the objections of those modern writers 

 to whose works we have already referred. 



The Tlieoi^y of Discontinuity. 



Mr. Bateson's large and important volume consists 

 mainly of an extensive collection of cases of variation 

 of a particular kind, which have been met with throughout 

 the whole animal kingdom and have been recorded in all 

 parts of the world. These are arranged systematically 

 under nearly nine hundred numbered headings, and are 

 in many cases well illustrated by characteristic figures. 

 The character and morphological relations of these vari- 

 ations are often very fully discussed with great knowledge 

 and acuteness, and some original views are set forth 

 which are of interest both to morphologists and physio- 

 logists. So far as this part of the work is concerned the 

 present writer would feel himself quite incompetent to 

 criticise it, but would welcome it as presenting in a con- 

 venient form a great body of interesting and little-known 

 facts. But the book goes far beyond this. The first 

 words of the preface tell us that " This book is offered as 

 a contribution to the study of the problem of Species ; " 

 and in a lengthy introductory and shorter concluding 

 chapters this problem is discussed in some detail, with 

 the view of discrediting the views held by most Darwinians ; 

 while a new theory, founded upon the facts given in the 

 body of the work, is set forth as being a more probable one. 



