INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
ON 
Some RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS to the THEORY 
of HVOLUTION. 
By Proressor W. A. Herpman, D.Sc., PRESIDENT. 
[Read 12th October, 1888. ] 
Durine the quarter of a century that has elapsed since 
Charles Darwin showed how new species may have been 
evolved by means of those processes for which he coined 
the useful term ‘‘natural selection,’’ there has appeared an 
enormous mass of literature dealing with the subject of 
Evolution, and containing some valuable additions to and 
modifications of the original theory. I propose to examine 
a few of the more recent of these contributions critically, 
with the object of determining how far they ought to 
change our views in regard to the origin and the mutual 
relationships of the plants and animals around us. 
First, let me remind you briefly of the leading features 
of the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. 
(1) No two plants or animals are exactly the same. In 
any assemblage of men, sheep, or rose-trees, there are 
individual differences by which any one of them may be 
distinguished from the others. This is the principle of 
VARIATION. We say, ‘“‘As like as two peas.”’ We might 
as truthfully say, ‘‘As unlike as two peas:” 
are alike in all respects. 
(2) Characters, both physical and mental, may be in- 
herited. The offspring bear more resemblance to their 
1 
no two peas 
