THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE THEORY OP ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 115 



Was it possible to hold the evolutionary theory on scientific 

 grounds and at the same time to hold to that religious faith which 

 was to us so immensely precious ? He believed that it was. We 

 needed to be very patient with those who were investigating in this 

 matter, for there was much yet to be learned. He believed that 

 there had not only been progress in the arts and sciences, but there 

 had also been in the Dark Ages a loss of knowledge, the full recovery 

 of which would be very valuable in discussing questions of philosophy, 

 science and religion. 



Mr. T. B. Bishop : I feel that we have to thank Professor Mac- 

 Bride for bringing us up to date on the question of evolution, 

 because the war has nearly banished all scientific subjects from our 

 monthly reviews, and I have scarcely seen any criticisms on Pro- 

 fessor Bateson's Presidential Address at the British Association's 

 meeting at Melbourne. 



I am not sure whether we may not look upon the paper before us 

 as an answer to Professor Bateson's school. 



As a layman who is very desirous of more information on the 

 subject of evolution generally, I wonder whether I may ask Pro- 

 fessor MacBride a few questions ? 



On p. 107 it is stated that in some beds in the Karoo Desert of 

 South Africa we have the record of the evolution of a mammal out 

 of a reptile. May I inquire in what book the particulars of this 

 discovery may be found 1 



(a) On p. 108 the case is mentioned of the spotted salamander, 

 and of some plants. I should like to know whether, in Professor 

 MacBride's opinion, these instances do not entirely upset the chief 

 argument of Weismann's book, that against the inheritance of 

 acquired characters 1 



(b) On p. 9-t the paper refers to processes now in operation, 

 which must inevitably, according to Darwin's view, lead to such an 

 evolution as he postulated. 



But is there any proof at all that evolution is now in progress 



(c) In The Popular Science Monthly for June, 1911, there was a 

 paper by Dr. J. Arthur Harris, of the Station for Experimental 

 Evolution at Cold Spring Harbour, New York, describing attempts 

 which had been made by biometric methods, such as those alluded 

 to in the paper on p. 98, to ascertain the intensity of the selective 

 elimination which may occur in nature, and the results were very 



I 2 



