Abstract
IN this elaborate and carefully written treatise the veteran biologist of Freiburg has brought together and presented in connected form the fruit of his life-long investigation of the principles and methods of organic evolution. It would be an easy matter to show—indeed, the author admits as much with perfect candour—that his present standpoint differs in many important respects from that adopted by him at former periods of his career. The fact that Weismann has more than once shifted his ground has often been brought against him as a kind of reproach—we think with scant justice; for in a subject like the present, where new facts come crowding upon us almost daily, it is unreasonable to expect that a far-reaching theory should at once attain finality. If the author of such a theory should be willing to recognise that some parts of it become untenable and others require modification in the light of fresh discoveries, this should be reckoned to his credit rather than otherwise. The practice of putting forward ill-considered and hasty views deserves severe condemnation; but it is characteristic of our author that even his boldest speculations rest for the most part on a basis of observed fact, and that he has always honestly striven to render his theory consistent both with itself and also with the new facts that have from time to time come under the observation of other investigators. Moreover, his plan of, so to speak, taking the scientific world into his confidence, and enabling his colleagues to follow the workings of his own mind, has not only added greatly to the interest of his contribution to the biological thought of our time, but has acted also as a powerful stimulus to fellow-workers in the same field. So much may fairly be said, whether his final conclusions meet with general acceptance or the reverse.
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D., F. A Life's Work in the Theory of Evolution 1 . Nature 72, 200–202 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/072200a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/072200a0