174 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



consider many of our conclusions absolutely unassailable. Thus 

 Dr. Reid remarks: — " A young chick, for instance, emerges from 

 the egg the possessor of a large amount of hereditary know- 

 ledge," and alludes to the brilliant researches on that matter by 

 the late Douglas Spalding. With Dr. Reid we had all accepted 

 the result of these researches as final; but now Prof. Lloyd 

 Morgan has repeated the experiments, and shown that many 

 of Mr. Spalding's conclusions are erroneous. It is only just to 

 remark, however, that Dr. Reid had evidently no opportunity of 

 consulting the then unpublished observations of Prof. Lloyd 

 Morgan. 



The second section is devoted to " The present evolution 

 of Man." It is scarcely necessary to restate the common con- 

 sensus of opinion that the evolution of Man, so far as general 

 structure is concerned, has ceased, or, in other words, has arrived 

 at an equilibrium with surrounding conditions. This is indeed 

 so prevalent a conception, that by many of our best and most 

 progressive thinkers the human evolution of the future is con- 

 sidered to lie purely in the domain of ethics. There is still, 

 however, a physical arena where the struggle ensues, in which 

 the survivors are not necessarily the strong in limb and mind 

 alone, but " the strong against disease." To use the words 

 of our author: "The present evolution of Man is therefore not 

 mainly an evolution of physical or intellectual strength, as in 

 his remote ancestry, but mainly an evolution against disease, 

 and wherever men are crowded together, and can take disease 

 from one another, or there are other unfavourable circumstances, 

 especially against zymotic disease — that is, disease due to or pro- 

 duced by living micro-organisms." 



Such diseases are not confined to Man alone, but are found to 

 ravage other animals, and instances of such devastation will 

 recur to the minds of most zoologists. In calling attention to 

 this important factor, with the authority of personal experience 

 and many gathered facts, Dr. Reid has undoubtedly introduced 

 us to one of the neglected and by no means insignificant byways 

 which intersect the broad road of evolution. 



