200 



NA TURE 



[June 29, 1905 



last hundred years that the dogma of compulsory 

 tireek and the value of what is now called a classica'l 

 education has been promulgated. Previously, Latin 

 was learnt because all the results of the studies of 

 natural philosophers were in that language 



It IS evident that Prof. Lankester includes in his 

 study; of nature the study of intellectual and 

 emotional man through history, biography, novels 

 and poetr>% but we think that he made a tactical 

 mistake when he neglected to state this clearly It 

 seems to us that besides the study of nature, the most 

 important thing in a child's education is to make 

 him fond of reading in his own language, for this 

 leads to a future power to make use of books and 

 self-education for the rest of his life. When Prof 

 Lankester doubts the value of the study of history he 

 nn^r^ o V '':,'"'''="/ the value of that study as carried 

 ?h» O.^.fo'-d. ?nd surely no person who has read 

 wfth h m"Vr"''r °^ P.^f- ^''''^ ^"" disagree 

 nn -W ^; ^T ¥ 'P'^^'^^ °f « "-eform being 

 possible. It may be that he is taking into account a 

 movement of which but little is know? outside Si"ord 

 Itself, the growing indignation of the average under- 

 graduate at being made to pay extravagant sunis of 

 money for tuition which is mischievous 



Ihe readers of Nature are well acquainted with 

 the views put forward in this address. Huxley and 

 many others, dwelling, perhaps, more upon mateHal 

 mfpr I °^' K "'P"""' I""''' Published them over and 

 over again, but we do not think that anybody hi. 

 ever presented them with so much grace of style or 

 so much of an endeavour to secure' the goodwill of 

 ^hat'th-Tfi" "' L'°^- Lankester. But, ala^! wV ear 

 others! " '"'"'''' """' '^^'^ *e fate of man" 



cJ'eerV^f':^rr:r'''' ^&°. ,!«?«" began her new 

 Lareer, tnere were a few people like Ito clever enon^b 



to hrn"etfe« 'ofVe' rf^' ^^-^ cirssTcs'Xnt 

 the count? hn "^^^'^d-^- °f "ature, meant ruin to 



iiccessicy tor an immediate radical i-ofV>^„, ' r .• 

 nature was studied by even ch M in T " ^'"■'^ 



consequence scientific methods of thinkinT"'^ ""'^. '" 

 have permeated the whole n.donVn^ "^ f ""5 



^:!^/1nS~;^l-^">--^^S-^ 



or sailed to v c orv in e.^r, ^"'^ '"'" ^""''^ "^^--ched 

 men will do exTctIv Ihl f''^/'Sem^"i' Aeir states- 

 negotiations foT'Iace- Sir" en ".' f°'-.,^P'-'" in the 

 5ts place as one of the'srcf , d''"' ''■'" 'l"'*'^'^- take 

 and every person who T-n" ^"'u^'' "^ ^'^^ ^^-orid, 

 is quite sure that%mb?tionr'' ■•^">"'h'"- about Japan 

 conquest are ^110^.1^1° • ' ^^'^^^'headed schemed of 

 minds of the JaSese ' ""P"^^'"^'^ '- 'he scientific 



ia! &"'?.' r u"^:- i"^'-^^ danger we know 



given us day by day in the news from Russia and 

 the I-ar East.- 



Fain would we hope that Oxford will pay attention 

 to what has been said by one whom some of us regard 

 as her cleverest son ; but, alas ! we have no such hope. 

 «Jh, bhade of Clough, how can we help sayino- that 

 'the struggle nought availeth " when vour'own best 

 admirers seem unable to think for themselves? 



John Perrv. 



A LIFE'S WORK IN THE THEORY OF 

 EVOLUTION.' 



that she wou d not hV" l", ^'''''^ danger we know 

 some of us think that 7 ,^'''''" '^ nature-study, and 

 in England to nrod,,rp h ■' "^""^ ^ 'f-''^^ °f danger 

 The South \fr can n' HHl "'''''^'y d^^i^e for reform. 



almost everyboTseem'tthYnkZT'l, ^•^T^-'^V"'^ 

 may also be wnrrir^ Vt, '" "^ that all such muddles 



that we may not Xlv r^'\ ^f ^""^^ °f "-^ *ink 



enough even now \nH '° '"^''•'■- ^''"^^'- '^ ^'°se 



becomes ^reatr;''' "■"" "," ""'>' ^ope that if it 



learn sonrc'htng from ■thT'K-"°T'-^' '"""^^ ^^ '^^ "^ 

 >--nmg trom the obiect lesson which is bein"- 



NO. l86l, VOL. 72] 



T i\ this elaborate and carefully written treatise the 

 veteran biologist of Freiburg has brought 

 together and presented in connected form the fruit of 

 his hfe-long investigation of the principles and 

 methods of organic evolution. It would be an easy 

 matter to show— indeed, the author admits as much 

 with perfect candour— that his present standpoint 

 difters m many important respects from that adopted 

 by him at former periods of his career. The fact 

 that Weismann has more than once shifted his ground 

 has often been brought against him as a kind of re- 

 proach—we think with scant justice; for in a sub- 

 ject like the present, where new facts come crowding 

 upon us almost daily, it is unreasonable to expect that 

 a far-reaching theory should at once attain finality. 

 If the author of such a theory should be willing to 

 recognise that some parts of it" become untenable and 

 others require modification in the light of fresh dis- 

 coveries, this should be reckoned to his credit rather 

 than otherwise. The practice of putting forward ill- 

 considered and hasty views deserves severe con- 

 demnation ; but it is characteristic of our author that 

 even his boldest speculations rest for the most part 

 on a basis of observed fact, and that he has always 

 honestly striven to render his theory consistent both 

 with Itself and also with the new' facts that have 

 from time to time come under the observation of other 

 investigators. Moreover, his plan of, so to speak, 

 taking the scientific world into his confidence and 

 enabling his colleagues to follow the workings of his 

 own mind, has not only added greatly to the interest 

 of his contribution to the biological' thought of our 

 time, but has acted also as a powerful stimulus to 

 fellow-workers in the same field. So much may fairly 

 be said, whether his final conclusions meet with 

 general acceptance or the reverse. 



The first eleven chapters of the present book 

 traverse familiar ground. Starting with a brief 

 historical account of evolutionary theory up to and 

 including the work of Darwin and \\'allace they 

 proceed to a more detailed discussion of such branche's 

 pt the suhject as the coloration of animals, mimicry 

 instinct, _ symbiosis, protective adaptations in plant's' 

 the origin of flowers, and sexual selection. These are 

 well-worn topics, but their treatment is interesting 

 and by no means trite. Next comes a discussion of 

 Koux s suggestion of the " Kampf der Theile " which 

 strikes us as somewhat of an excrescence on the 

 general structure of the treatise. The existence of a 

 metabolic response to functional stimulus is un- 

 deniable, but we do not think that either Roux or 

 Weismann has plumbed the matter to the bottom 

 and the latter author's use of the term " selection '' 

 in this connection appears to involve some overstrain 

 ot language. 



Price 10 marks. j4° . vi + ■)4^, (Jena ; Giistav Fischer, 1904.) 



wi'fJIr. ^\°ll"''''" 'Theory" By p^of. August Weismann. Translated 

 Edward Arnold, ,904.) Price 3L net ' *°' '"ustrated. (London : 



