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DARWIN, AND AFTER DARWIN
II
Post-Darwinian Questions
Heredity and Utility
* * * * *
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
DARWIN AND AFTER DARWIN. An Exposition of the Darwinian Theory and a
Discussion of Post-Darwinian Questions.
1. THE DARWINIAN THEORY. 460 pages. 125 illustrations. Cloth,
$2.00.
2. POST-DARWINIAN QUESTIONS. Edited by Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan.
338 pages. Cloth, $1.50. Both volumes together, $3.00 net.
AN EXAMINATION OF WEISMANNISM. 236 pages. Cloth, $1.00.
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION. Edited by Charles Gore, M.A., Canon of
Westminster. Second Edition. 184 pages. Cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
324 DEARBORN STREET, CHICAGO.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Frontispiece]
DARWIN, AND AFTER DARWIN
AN EXPOSITION OF THE DARWINIAN THEORY
AND A DISCUSSION OF POST-DARWINIAN QUESTIONS
by the Late
GEORGE JOHN ROMANES, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.
Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
II
Post-Darwinian Questions
Heredity and Utility
FOURTH EDITION
Chicago London
The Open Court Publishing Company
1916
Chapter 1 Copyrighted by
The Open Court Publishing Co.
Chicago, Ill., 1895
Printed in the
United States of America
PREFACE
As its sub-title announces, the present volume is mainly devoted to a
consideration of those Post-Darwinian Theories which involve fundamental
questions of Heredity and Utility.
As regards Heredity, I have restricted the discussion almost exclusively
to Professor Weismann's views, partly because he is at present by far
the most important writer upon this subject, and partly because his
views with regard to it raise with most distinctness the issue which
lies at the base of all Post-Darwinian speculation touching this
subject--the issue as to the inheritance or non-inheritance of acquired
characters.
My examination of the Utility question may well seem to the general
reader needlessly elaborate; for to such a reader it can scarcely fail
to appear that the doctrine which I am assailing has been broken to
fragments long before the criticism has drawn to a close. But from my
previous experience of the hardness with which this fallacious doctrine
dies, I do not deem it safe to allow even one fragment of it to remain,
lest, hydra-like, it should re-develop into its former proportions. And
I can scarcely think that naturalists who know the growing prevalence of
the doctrine, and who may have followed the issues of previous
discussions with regard to it, will accuse me of being more over-zealous
in my attempt to make a full end thereof.
One more remark. It is a misfortune attending the aim and scope of Part
II that they bring me into frequent discord with one or other of the
most eminent of Post-Darwinian writers--especially with Mr. Wallace. But
such is the case only because the subject-matter of this volume is
avowedly restricted to debateable topics, and because I choose those
naturalists who are deservedly held in most esteem to act spokesmen on
behalf of such Post-Darwinian views as appear to me doubtful or
erroneous. Obviously, however, differences of opinion on particular
points ought not to be taken as implying any failure on my part to
recognize the general scientific authority of these men, or any
inability to appreciate their labours in the varied fields of Biology.
G. J. R.
CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.
NOTE
Some time before his death Mr. Romanes decided to publish those sections
of his work which deal with Heredity and Utility, as a separate volume,
leaving Isolation and Physiological Selection for the third and
concluding part of _Darwin, and after Darwin_.
Most of the matter contained in this part was already in type, but was
not finally corrected for the press. The alterations made therein are
for the most part verbal.
Chapter IV was type-written; in it, too, no alterations of any moment
have been made.
For Chapters V and VI there were notes and isolated paragraphs not yet
arranged. I had promised during his life to write for Mr. Romanes
Chapter V on the basis of these notes, extending it in such ways as
seemed to be desirable. In that case it would have been revised and
amended by the author and received his final sanction. Death annulled
this friendly compact; and since, had I written the chapter myself, it
could not receive that imprimatur which would have given its chief
value, I have decided to arrange the material that passed into my hands
without adding anything of importance thereto. The substance of Chapters
V and VI is therefore entirely the author's: even the phraseology is
his; the arrangement only is by another hand.
Such parts of the Preface as more particularly refer to Isolation and
Physiological Selection are reserved for publication in Part III. A year
or more must elapse before that part will be ready for publication.
Mr. F. Howard Collins has, as a kindly tribute to the memory of the
author, read through the proofs. Messrs. F. Darwin, F. Galton, H.
Seebohm, and others, have rendered incidental assistance. After much
search I am unable to give the references to one or two passages.
I have allowed a too flattering reference to myself to stand, in
accordance with a particular injunction of Mr. Romanes given shortly
before that sad day on which he died, leaving many to mourn the loss of
a personal friend most bright, lovable, and generous-hearted, and
thousands to regret that the hand which had written so much for them
would write for them no more.
C. LL. M.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BRISTOL,
_April, 1894_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY: THE DARWINISM OF DARWIN AND OF THE
POST-DARWINIAN SCHOOLS 1