Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-12-20
AcAsslx.s LAST nSAY.


mented gsssiz as paper on - Evolution and Per-
nanence of Type" in which he has opened the
case against the Darwinian hypothesis, accord.
Ing 20 Its latest ishts aud k.s osu most recent
studies. For the benefit OF those readers who
may nat he able 20 follow this article in detail,
VIC have extracted without keeping 20 the con
secutiye order, passages enough from IL TO show
the general view, always 50 Interesting which
Agsssiz took OF the theories of Darwin, whose
ability he highly compliments, but from whose
conclusions he dissents 30 completely. lie saws
In connection with modern views Of science
we hear so much of evolution and evolutionists
that IL is worth our while to ask II there Is any
such process as evol alton in nature. Unlues-
| tionably yes. The Law OF evolution, however
so lar as its working Is understood, is Law con.
| trolling development and keeping types within
appointed cycles Of growth, which revolve for
ever upon themselves. returning at appointed
intervals 70 the same starting point and repeat
ing through succession OF phases the same
course. These cycles have never been known
to oscillate or TO pass into each other; indeed,
the only structural differences known between
titles or peculiarities pertaining 70 sex, aud the
latter are as shiding and permanent as type
The excitement produced by the Publication
| of The Origin of Species may be fairly con
pared to that which followed the appearance OF
| 0ken's Nature Philosophic. over fifty years ago,
| in which IL was claimed that the KEY hal been
| found TO the whole system of organic lite. Ac-
cording to Oxen, the animal kingdom, In all It's
| diversity, is but the presentation in detail OF
| the organization OF man The parallelism was
drawn with admirable skin and carried into the
| secondary divisions, down TO the families AMI
even tine genera. The Articulates were
| likened TO the systems of respiration ami
| circulation. the Mollusks TO those of re-
! production; the Radiates to those OF diges-
| ton. The comprehensiveness aud grandeur OF
| these views, in which the scattered elements
of organic life. serving distinct purposes In tue
lower animals are gathered into one structural
| combination in the highest living being ap-
pealed powerfully to the Imagination. In Ger
many they were welcomed with an enthusiasm
such as is shown there for Dlrwinsm. England
was lukewarm and France turned a cold shout
der, as she at present does TO the theory of the
great English naturalist. The influence of
| Culver and the JusseuN was deeply felt in
western Europe, and perhaps saved French
| tIactiye doctrine, numbered now among the eN-
ploded theories of the past.
| The most advanced DsrwnianS seem re-
luctapt to acknowledge the Intervention OF
| intellectual power in the diversity which OBJ
tains in nature, under the plea that such an adj
mission implies distinct creative acts for every
species. What of it, If IL were true? Have those
| who object TO repeated acts of creation
considered that no progress can be made in
| knowledge without repeated acts of thinking?
| And what are thoughts but specific acts
| OF mind? Why should il then be unscientihc
| to infer that the facts OF nature are the
| result of a similar process since there Is
no evidence of any other cause The world has
| arisen in some Way or other. How it originated
| is the great question, and Darwin's theory, like
| all other attempts TO explain the origin Of life
is thus far merely coniectursl. believe he has
| not even made the best conjecture possible in
| the present state of our knowledge. The more 1
| look at the great complex of the animal world
| the more sure do I feel that we have not vet
| reached its hidden meaning, and the more do
| regret that the Young and ardent spirits of our
| day give themselves to speculation rather than
| to close and accurate Investigation.
What AgassiZ meant by this last sentence
| may perhaps best be illustrated by the refuts-
| ton which he cites from a new pamphlet Dy
| the veteran embryologist, f. X. won Bser, of
| the theory OF some later Darwinians that the
Ascidisns, mans ancestors, with their ''IncIp-
| lent hoeE fxuht ala go ha.
| on the lower side of the abdominal cavity in
| stead of the upper, the Ascidians having really
| no homoogy of structure with the Vertebrate
| animals at all. The fancied resemblance was
| the result OF an imperfect examination, com
bned with what Won Baer calls a belief in
| " complete transmutations." In regard to in
| heriiance, the influence of climate, &c, upon
which Darwin and his followers SO much rely,
| AgassiZ saws:
| No one can deny that inheritance Is a power
full factor in the maintenance OF race and in the
| improvement of breeds and varieties. But II
| has never been known that acquired qu alities,
| even though retained through successive gene
| rations, have led TO the production of new
| species Darwin's attractive style is never more
| alluTiDg than in connection with this subject.
| His concise and effective phrases have the
| weight of aphorisms and pass current for prn-
| ciples, when they may be only unfounded as
sertions. Such is ''the survival OF the iftest."
| After reading some chapters of The Descent of
| Man, could any one doubt. unless INDEED he hag-
peRed 10 be fdmiliar Utth the facts, that animals
| possessing certain advantages over others,
are necessarily winners in the race
| outside of the influence Of man, there are, in
| nature, privileged individuals among auimals
capable of holding on to a positive gain, gene
| ration after generation, a'd of transmitting
| successfully their peculisrites until they be-
| come the starting point for another step; the
| descendants losing at last, through this cumu-
| latiye process, all close resemblance TO their
| progenitors. IL is not true that q light varia-
| ton, among the succ5 ssve offspring of the same
| stock, goes on increasing until the difference
l n a 10 isrfne I'm
trary, il is matter of fact that extreme varia-
| tions finally degenerate or become sterile; like
| monstrosities, they die out, or return TO their
| type.
| As TO the influence of climate and physical
| conditions We all know their power for evil and
| for good upon living beings. Butthere is, new
ertheless, nothing more striking in the whole
book of nature than the power shown by types
aid species TO resist physical conditions. End
| less evidence NAV be brought from the whole
| eapanse of land and air and water, showing that
identical physical conditions will do nothing to-
ward the merging OF species into one another,
| neither will variety of conditions do anything
toward their multiplication. One thing only we
know absolutely, and in this treacherous, mar
shy ground of hypothesis and assumption, il is
| pleasant TO plant ones foot occasionally upon
| solid fact here and there. Whatever be the
means Of preserving and transmitting proper
ties, the primitive types have remained perma-
nent and unchanged-in the long succession of
ages amid all the appearance and disappearance
OF kinds, the fading away of one species and
the coming in of another-from the earliest
10 present CAV. HOW
these types were first introduced, how the spe-
cies which have successfully represented them
have replaced one another,-these are the vital
questions TO which no answer has been given.
We are as far from any satisfactory solution of
this problem as if development theories had
never been discussed.
This brings us to the geological side of the
question. As a palaontologst have from the
beginning stood aloof from this new theory of
transmutation. now SO widely admitted by the
scientific world. Its doctrines, in fact, contra
dict what the animal forms buried in the rocky
strata Of our earth tell OF their own introduc-
ton and succes sion upon the surface of the
globe. Let US therefore hear them-for after
all, their testimony is that of the eyewitness
and the actor in the scene. 1 hope in future ar
tcles to show, first, that however broken the
geological record may be. there is a complete
sequence in many parts of il, from which the
character of the succession may be ascertained;
secondly, that, since the most exquisitely deli
cate structures, as well embryonic phases of
growth OF the most perishable nature. have been
preserved from very early deposits, we have no
right to infer the disappearance of types because
their absence disProves some favorite theory:
and, lastly, that there is evidence of a direct
descent of later from earlier species in the geo
logical succession of animals.
- To say man sdefunctedn is the latest re-
nOrf0rial