NOTES AND LITERATURE 



GENERAL BIOLOGY. 



Development and Evolution. 1 — In this work, which is a collection 

 of short papers originally published in various magazines, the author 

 attempts to apply the biogenetic as contrasted with the psychogenetic 

 method to the facts of ontogeny and phylogeny with the purpose of 

 determining " which sort of a theory of biological evolution " is most 

 satisfactory. As a psychologist Professor Baldwin tends to empha- 

 size the importance of the psychic in evolution and development ; 

 his theory is consequently psychophysical, not vitalistic. 



Of the three parts of the book the first deals with problems of 

 genesis, the second with the method of evolution, and the third with 

 certain psychological facts and philosophical problems. 



" It has been the psycho-physical, not the physical alone, which 

 has been the unit of selection in the main trend of evolution " says 

 the author. In support of this statement he presents facts of social 



Upon the plasticity of the organism, its imitativeness, and its ability 

 to make intelligent adjustments Professor Baldwin lays great stress. 

 In fact it sometimes seems as if he might explain everything by sim- 

 pie imitation. 



The whole work, in so far as it can be unified for purposes of 

 brief description, is a statement of the author's theory of " Ortho- 

 plasy " in connection with a marshaling of the evidences of organic 

 selection. In contrast with natural selection, which is usually thought 

 of as due to the destruction of the unfit, organic selection is essen- 

 tially due to the fact that individual accommodations keep certain 

 individuals alive, and thus permit of that accumulation of variations 

 which determines the direction of evolution in later generations. If 

 such a process as that of organic selection is occurring it is obvious 

 that the assumption of the inheritance of acquired characters, in the 

 usual sense, is unnecessary. That use-inheritance is not a factor in 



1 Baldwin, James Mark. Development and Evolution. Including Psychophy- 

 sical Evolution, Evolution by Orthoplasy, and the Theory of Genetic Modes. 

 New York. Macmillan. 1902. 8 vo. xvi-f- 395 pp. 



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