EVOLUTION 43 



which had failed to recognize its power. Among the 

 later departures the most divergent is probably the Weis- 

 mannian doctrine of the non-transmissibility by inheritance 

 of what are known as ' acquired characters * — a doctrine 

 which most of us believe to have a preponderating balance 

 of evidence in its favour. That point was ably dealt 

 with by Professor Bourne in last year's Herbert Spencer 

 Lecture. To the last Spencer opposed, and we may fairly 

 say very ably opposed, this attempt to eliminate the final 

 trace of Lamarckism from organic evolution. It cannot 

 be said that we are as yet in a position to write finis to 

 this chapter of biological controversy. 



When the time is ripe for a revised Synthetical Philosophy 

 it may safely be predicted that no single individual will be 

 able to undertake that task, but, as has well been pointed 

 out, that a syndicate of experts will be required. And 

 when that revision is called for and when we know more 

 about the mechanism of development in inorganic and 

 organic nature we shall still have a Synthetical Philosophy 

 on Spencerian lines, with Evolution as the central idea. 

 Regarded as a philosopher, the founder of that system 

 will no more suffer in reputation by the revision of his 

 scientific data than will the lustre of Charles Darwin's 

 name be diminished by the revision of his scientific data 

 in the light of scientific progress. We now smile upon 

 Bacon's science as puerile, but he did his best with the 

 scientific faculties within him and with the materials 

 available in his time. His contemporary, William Gilbert 

 of Colchester, appears to have had more of the scientific 

 faculty, but Bacon's fame as a philosopher is not thereby 

 diminished, nor is his rank as a philosopher determined 

 by his contributions to science. The Spencerian philo- 

 sophy as a philosophy based upon science may — nay 

 must — ^undergo development, but if Evolution is true in 

 principle — as we believe it is — that philosophy may be 

 expected to survive throughout the ages by that most 

 effective of all evolutionary processes, 'Descent with 

 Modification.' 



