32 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



cockpit in which the great battle between catastrophism and 

 evolution was fought out " was the Geological Society of 

 London. Some may be surprised, but few indeed will disagree 

 with the following statement of Prof. Judd : — "Were I to assert 

 that if the ' Principles of Geology ' had not been written we 

 should never have had the ' Origin of Species,' I think I should 

 not be going too far ; at all events, I can safely assert, from 

 several conversations I had with Darwin, that he would have 

 most unhesitatingly agreed in that opinion." The ever wise 

 catholicity and candour of Darwin are enhanced by that state- 

 ment, and his great theory loses none of its originality thereby. 

 We have drawn particular attention to the claims made for 

 geologists as having occupied positions in the firing line of the 

 evolutionary battle, and perhaps this is the greatest feature 

 of the book, for that statement is not so well known as to 

 require no re-telling. It is, however, to be remarked that we 

 find no reference to Herbert Spencer ! 



In conclusion, we may perhaps give a quotation from outside 

 Prof. Judd's book, but it is not from an opponent. Huxley 

 wrote*: — " History ivarns us, hoivever, that it is the customary fat^ 

 of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions ; and, 

 as matters no2V stand, it is hardly rash to anticipate that, in another 

 twenty years,\ the new generation, educated under the influences of 

 the present day, will he in danger of accepting the main doctrines of 

 the ' Origin of Species ' with as little reflection, and it may he with 

 as little justification, as so many of our contemporaries, twenty years 

 ago, rejected them.'" 



Heredity in the Light of Recent Research. By L. Doncaster, 

 M.A. Cambridge University Press. 



This small book is a digest of the latest views concerning 

 " heredity," a somewhat neglected factor in the consideration of 

 animal evolution, and a most important element to be con- 

 sidered by those who are interested in the progress and advance- 

 ment of human societies. With the first view * The Zoologist ' 

 is more particularly concerned. 



* ' Collected Essays,' vol. ii, p. 229. 

 f This was published in 1880. 



