Every naturalist who believes in the inductive method 

 must needs draw the conclusion from these naive admis- 

 sions, that, as Darwinism lacks the empiric prerequisites, 

 it should be discarded. Moreover, the demand is made in 

 all seriousness, that, in order to refute Darwinism which 

 has not as yet been estabHshed empirically, empiric proofs 

 should be forthcoming. 



To my mind, the scientific and logical bankruptcy of 

 Darwinism was never announced more bluntly and inge- 

 nuously. Furthermore it must be remarked that Wagner's 

 statement, regarding "fictitious cases," is not even perti- 

 nent. He seems to have no idea of the observations and 

 experiments of Sachs, Haberlandt, Eimer, and a host of 

 other investigators. The disproof of Darwinism on the 

 basis of scientific research is an accomplished fact. 



A word about the conclusion of Wagner's article, 

 which in view of what has been already said, cannot be 

 a matter of surprise. He maintains that the considera- 

 tions which he adduces, "clearly" prove that there is no 

 "reasonable ground for despairing of the theory of Darwin 

 — ; for a theory, which neither proceeds from questionable 

 assumptions, nor loses itself in airy hypotheses, but rests 

 throughout and exclusively on facts, need never fear the 

 advance of science." 



But a moment ago it was asserted that the theory of 

 selection is lacking "entirely as yet the empiric prerequi- 

 sites" and now only twenty-three lines further on, it rests 

 "throughout and exclusively on facts." It is difficult to 



102 



