Initiative in Evolution
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WALTER KIDD, M.D., F.R.S.E.
AUTHOR OF “USE—INHERITANCE,” “DIRECTION OF HAIR IN ANIMALS AND MAN,” “THE SENSE OF TOUCH IN MAMMALS AND BIRDS,” ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
H. F. & G. WITHERBY
326 HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON 1920
The Great War imposed on speculative biology a moratorium as in the long vacation of lawyers, in which are causes left over to the next term. And so the old case Lamarck versus Weismann was not heard in the Courts of Science during the war. In the present term it is due to be heard afresh, and at some future date to come up for settlement. The chapters that follow comprise some of the pleadings on behalf of the plaintiff and are part of the brief of a junior counsel. This adjective, alas! signifies not the years—for such are often old enough to be the fathers of the leaders—but the standing and attainments of a junior. But in the open Court of Science, and on suited occasions, it may be the business of a junior to question, in the interests of his client, the authority even of Attorneys-General and Lords Chief Justice. In matters of thought and inquiry it is useless to retreat within a stronghold and bar the gates. It may be satisfactory to himself for one Milner to write a book on behalf of a certain body of doctrine and call it The End of Controversy , but the book should have held the sub-title The End of Progress . The Newtons, Pasteurs and Darwins have seldom wielded the weapon of controversy, though the triumph of The Origin of Species would have been slower without the aid of Darwin’s brilliant champion and candid friend. But, if the leaders seldom need such help, for the Gibeonite it is a matter of course and simple necessity. With all the urbanity due to the great subject-matter should this pleasant duty be performed. Who would not prefer to the fierce Spaniard the genial Portuguese, discussing all subjects without rancour, and lover of bull-fights though he be, taking care to wrap in cork the horns of his fighting bulls?
Walter Kidd
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PREFACE.
CONTENTS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Historian a Biologist.
Darwin.
Geology.
Anthropology.
The Sources of Rivers.
Genealogy.
Detection of a Crime.
A Parable.
The Forward Way.
Three Blows to Darwin.
Bateson.
Two Parables.
Weismann.
Weismann’s Twelve Points.
Lighthouse Value.
Romanes on Weismann.
Germinal Selection.
Authority.
Two Questions.
What the Problems are not.
The Problems Considered.
Correlation.
Total Experience.
Discontinuous Environments.
Mould and Sieve.
Thesis.
Procedure.
Steps of the Inquiry.
How the Hair is Arranged on the Forearm.
The Dynamics of Hair-Pattern.
From Lemur to Ape.
From Ape to Man.
The Side of the Horse’s Neck.
The Normal Arrangement of Hair.
Fourteen Varieties.
Hairs of Human Eyebrows.
Evidence from Artists.
Eyebrows Interpreted by Wrinkles.
Some Examples.
A Conflict of Forces.
A Side-Issue.
Horses.
Lessons from the Domestic Horse.
Some Habits of the Horse.
The Domestic Ass and Mule.
Horse and Zebra Compared.
Oxen.
Oxen.
A Cow’s Habits.
Light Occupations of the Cow.
Cats.
Lion.
Snout of the Cats
Lion’s Neck.
Lion’s Back.
Dogs.
Some of the Dog’s Habits.
Lying Attitude.
Hair and Habits of Man.
Hair of the Back of Man.
Passive Habits.
Hair of the Chest.
Interpretation of Records.
Struggles of the Platysma.
The Giraffe.
Habits.
Hair Patterns.
Bongo—Tragelaphus euryceros.
Kiang—Thibetan Wild Ass.
Llama—L.
The Parti-coloured Bear—Æluropus Melanoleucus.
Two-Toed Sloth—Cholæpus didactylus.
Progress of Inquiry.
The Nature of Experiment.
Experiments for the Present Purpose.
Undesigned Experiments.
Harness on Horses.
Examples of the Effects of Pressure.
The Selected Example—Ventral Surface of Horse’s Neck.
The Normal Arrangement on the Ventral Surface of the Horse’s Neck.
Cart Horses.
Analogy.
Effects of Pressure by Harness.
The Proof of Transmission of Pattern.
Objections.
Causation.
To Some Critics.
Stimuli and Response.
Skin of Palm and Sole.
Some Chosen Examples of Palms and Soles.
Examples of Ridge-covered Palms and Soles.
Primates.
Palm and Sole of Man.
The Hand of Man.
Reasons for Arrangement Observed.
Foot of Man.
Lower Animals.
Some Undesigned Experiments in Ridges.
Direction of Ridges.
Description of Flexures.
Chief Types.
Meaning.
Bursæ Described.
Human Bursæ Enumerated.
Examination of Two Still-born Children.
Examination of Living Primates.
Dead Specimens.
Further Undesigned Experiments.
The Significance of the Proceeding.
A Crumbling Arch.
Non-Arboreal Man.
How the Arch was Built.
An Unique Phenomenon.
Equipment.
Description of the Arch.
Anatomists’ Views of Muscles.
Initiative in Muscles.
Cross-Roads in Evolution.
New Muscles.
Unstriped Muscles.
A Remarkable Example.
Facial Muscles of Expression.
Three Stages.
The Fly-shaker Muscle.
Other Muscles.
Muscles of Primates.
Hand and Foot of Man.
Peroneus Tertius.
Observed Facts.
Some Aspects of the Nervous System.
Origin of Cold, Warm, Pain and Touch Spots.
Cold and Pain.
Summary.
Some Illustrations.
Abraham.
Mohammed.
Columbus.
Napoleon.
Migrations.
Some Changes in Habits of Man.
Primate Ancestry.
Insects, Mollusca, Birds.
Insectivores.
The Place of the Nervous System in Evolution.
Some Neural Phenomena.
Facilitation.
Raw Materials of the Central Nervous System.
Integration of Raw Materials.
Evidence.
Direct Evidence.
Indirect Evidence.
Facilitation.
The Scratch Reflex.
Purposes of Reflexes.
Scratch Reflex of the Cat.
SUMMARY.
INDEX.
FOOTNOTES:
