CHAPTER II. 



Striking testimony relative to the present position of 

 Darwinism is borne by the Strasburg zoologist, Dr. Goette, 

 who has won fame by his invaluable labors as an historian 

 of evolutionary theory. In the "Umschau," No. 5, 1898, 

 he discusses the "Present Status of Darwinism," and the 

 conclusions he arrives at, are identical with mine. At the 

 outset Goette indicates the distinction between Darwinism 

 and the doctrine of Descent, and then points out that the 

 distinguishing features of the former consist not so much in 

 the three facts of Heredity, Variation, and Over- 

 production, but rather in Selection, Survival of the Fittest,, 

 and also in that mystical theory of heredity — the doctrine 

 of Pangenesis — which is peculiarly Darwinian. Since this 

 theory of Pangenesis has found no adherents, the question 

 may henceforth be restricted to the doctrine of natural 

 selection. This Goette very well observes. 



He points, moreover, to the fact that the misgivings 

 that were entertained concerning the doctrine of natural 

 selection on its first appearance, were, on the whole, pre- 

 cisely the same as they are to-day ; only with this difference, 

 that formerly they were disregarded by naturalists whose 

 clearness of vision was obscured by excessive enthusiasm; 

 whereas, today men have again returned to their sober 

 senses and lend their attention more readily to objections^ 



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