315 



Guppy Reprint 



167 



agree that students of Science should make known their discov- 

 eries in such a way as to be understood by the layman. 



Page 23 



In making these remarks I have Biology in mind. Nothing 

 is known of biology outside the ranks of biologists. Even Dar- 

 win's theory of evolution is most imperfectly understood by the 

 ordinarily educated man. Probably working biologists have no 

 idea how much it is misunderstood. When the late Lord Salis- 

 bury at Oxford said that there was nothing but pure chance to 

 ensure the transmission of an advantageous variation he left out 

 of consideration the survival of the fittest, an integral part of 

 the theory. Sir Oliver Lodge, in "Man and the Universe" 

 speaking of the persistence of favourable variations, says : 

 "Given their appearance, their development by struggle, inheri- 

 tance and survival can be explained ; but that they arose spon- 

 taneously, by random change, without a purpose, is an assertion 

 that cannot be justified." This passage shows that the writer 

 has not fully grasped the elements of the theory : the changes 

 take place in every direction, but all variations, except those in 

 favourable directions, are wiped out in the struggle for existence. 

 Such at any rate is the theory. When we consider that Darwin's 

 theories are not fully grasped by scholars, it is hardly to be won- 

 dered at that the ordinarily educated man has but the vaguest 

 ideas of biology, ideas made still more vague by the ordinarily 

 educated writers in the daily, weekly and monthly press. To the 

 ordinary man, the word Darwinism means the theory that his 

 ancestors were monkeys ; he will have heard the words "Sur- 

 vival of the fittest" used as a catch phrase, but he will have no 

 idea of their meaning. "Struggle for existence" will have no 

 biological sense for him. "Selection" he will think has some- 

 thing to do with sex. Biologists may say either that I am exag- 

 gerating or that the educated men of my acquaintance must be 

 singularly few ; but I can assure them that such misconceptions 

 are shared by very many men who have been educated at our 

 public schools and universities which is generally, though per- 



