Abstract
THE object of this little book is, as the author states in the preface, to give the ordinary non-expert reader an intelligent notion ofthe theory of natural selection. There is no doubt that there is scope for such a work, for even at the present time it is remarkable how widespread are the ignorance and misapprehension of Darwin's teaching among the general public. Mr. Ogilvy divides the subject into three parts: general statement, consisting of eleven chapters; illustrations, consisting of seven chapters; and a third part consisting of nine chapters. Although keeping fairly well within the limits of Darwin's teaching, the author shows some originality of treatment, and has not slavishly followed the custom so prevalent at one time of simply rearranging the facts collected by our great master and dishing them up as an original contribution to science. Several new illustrations of Darwinian principles are introduced, some of them appropriate and forcible, others less appropriate and in some cases altogether questionable. In the chapter on flight, for example, the author attempts to define two kinds: “Now some birds fly chiefly by muscular, some by nervous power.” The condor and the albatross are quoted as examples of the former, and the partridge as an example of the latter. The principles which have governed the author in classifying the contents of the various chapters are not in all cases clear, and a rearrangement might have been made in some instances with advantage. One other very obvious defect is the too facile exposition of evolutionary steps which are at present difficult to understand, and of which the course is confessedly obscure. The kind of reader for whom Mr. Ogilvy has written his, book is just he person upo whom such treatment would produce an impession of dogmatic security. In spite of these defects, however, any one previously ignorant of the subject who careful'y reads the volume cannot fail to acquire a fairly sound idea of Darwinlsm, and this is all that the author claims to have had in view. It should be added that the manuscript has beeh read by Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, who does not, however, hold himself responsible for all the statements.
The Elements of Darwinism, a Primer.
By A. J. Ogilvy. Pp. 160. (London: Jarrold and Sons, 1901.) Price 2s. 6d.
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M., R. The Elements of Darwinism, a Primer . Nature 64, 28 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/064028a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/064028a0