jnjactj and that selection, in order to be effective, postu- 

 lates the previous existence of the required useful charac- 

 ters, whereas the very point at issue is to explain how these, 

 characters have originated. Since, therefore, according 

 to Eimer's investigations, there are everywhere to be found 

 only a few, definitely determined lines of variation, selec- 

 tion is incapable of exercising any choice. The develop- 

 ment, furthermore, proceeds without regard for utility, 

 since, for instance, the features that characterize a species 

 of plants are out of all reference to utility. "Even if noth- 

 ing exists that is essentially detrimental, nevertheless very 

 much does exist that bears no reference whatever to im- 

 mediate good, and was therefore never affected by selec- 

 tion." 



Further on, Eimer expresses still more clearly the op- 

 position of his theory to that of Darwin, and in so doing 

 he attacks vigorously the omnipotence of selection, so un- 

 reasonably proclaimed by the followers of Darwin. Eimer's 

 theory, consequently, asserts that: "The essential cause of 

 transmutation is organic growth, a definite variation, 

 which, during long periods of time proceeds unswervingly 

 and without reference to utility, in but few directions and 

 is conditioned by the action of external influences, of cli- 

 mate and nourishment." In consequence of an interruption 

 of orthogenesis a stoppage ensues in certain stages of the 

 development, and this stoppage is the great cause of the 

 arrangement of forms in different species. Of vital import- 

 ance also "is development through different stages 

 i.Hetero-epistase), which results in the arrested devel- 



73 



