The chronicle=news., 1914-08-17
lOTteIyIjotNhsfl.- \
MsPu1Es THEORY
Of DhRMh

Ut uAkW1IV
\ Melb0urne. Aug. l7.-Prof. VIII
liam Bateson. president OF the Brit
lish Association for the Advancement
fsof Science. declared today in an in.
tensely Interesting address before the
ORGANIZATION at its first meeting in
Australia, that the old view OF va
rfations In forms Of life proceeding
from the simple to the complex
lmiEht be completely turned about
The true process OF evolution might
be from the complex to the simple.
| 1t win bC remembered that Mt last
f'year's meeting OF this famous or
sanitation In Birmingham. Sir Oliver
Lodge startled the scicntific world
With the bold Introduction of a pro-
posal for clcser Investigation into tile
['life after DEATH theory. Today,
Prof. .Bateson. with perhaps less pro-
|nonnced opinions, urged his fellow
[scientists to open their minds to the
Epossibiiity that evolution came large
Fly by loss" rather than by addition.
From lay standpoint his obser-
vations might be summarized as fol-
lows: =. In contradiction of Darwin
and Of most scientists who have ac-
Ecepted the belief that contemporary
variations In the forms If life have
come about wholly by crossing, and
thus by the addition OF new factors
OF life. 1t Is probable that the varia-
tions are due to the loss or suppress
sion OF factors present in the original
species. ''
, A pointed sentence was this re-
mark: II; have confidence that tho
artistic gifts OF mankind will prove
TO be due not to something added to
the makeup Of the ordinary mar.
but to the absence OF factors which
In the normal person inhibited the
of these gifts"
!, Prof. Bateson's subject wac "Her-
edity." OF this he has made par
;ticular study for many years. He
win be remembered by some in the
United States as Silliman lecturer at
Yale university seven years ago. The
stand he took in his address today
was not that Of propounder OF q
theory. The time for the develop
'ment OF theories Of the origin OF life
had not yet come. he said; 1.-The stu
dent Of gen,tics would rather stick
to the seed-pan and the incubator"
But in the face of what had been
learned since the time Of Mendel,
who was the first TO apply the pro-
cess Of real analysis to the offspring
Of plants and animals, the scope
claimed for natural selection. as a
factor III the flxity OF
the species, as propoundcd by Dar-
win. ';;must be greatly reduced"
THE doctrine Of the survival Of
the .fittest," he said. Ifs undeniable
10 Tong astat 10 applied to the or
sanism - y aIwhole' but to- sttenbpt
by,this principle to find value in all
definiteness Of parts and functions.
and in the name of science to scs
illness everywhere is mere eight
eefth century optimism. Yet it was
in application to the parts. to the
details of specific, difference. tc the
spots on the peacock's tail. to tine COL
oring of the orchid flower. and hosts
Of such examples, that the potency OF
natural selection was urged with
strongest emphasis. shorn Of these
the doctrine Of the sur,
vival OF favored races Is truism,
helping scarcely at all to account for
the diversity OF the species.
"The appearance of contemporary
proves to be an illusion.
from step to step in the
series must occur either by, the addi-
tion or by the loss of factor Now,
Of the origin of new forms by loss
there seems to me to he fairly clear
evidence, but of the contemporary
acquisition of any new factor | see
no satisfactory proof. though I adj
nit there are rare examples which
may be SO interpreted. We are left
with a picture Of variation utterly
differ ent from that which We saw
at first. Variation now stands out
as definite physiological event. We
have done with the notion that Dar-
win came latterly to favor, that large
can; arise by accumulation
Of small differences. Such small diff
ferences are often mere ephcmeral
effects of conditions of life, and as
such are not transmissible'
The speaker referred to the conten-
tion by Losty that the sole source OIL
was by crossing, but de-
clared this was unsafe ground. ''In'l
spite of repeated trials no one has
yet succeeded in crossing the sweet