Having classified ourselves, it remains for us (the authors of the present work) to define our position more precisely. Like Darwin we welcome all factors which appear to be capable of effecting evolution. We have no axe to grind in the shape of a pet hypothesis, and consequently our passions are not roused when men come forward with new ideas seemingly opposed to some which already occupy the field. We recognise the extreme complexity of the problems that confront us. We look facts in the face and decline to ignore any, no matter how ill they fit in with existing theories. We recognise the strength and the weakness of the Darwinian theory. We see plainly that it has the defect of the period in which it was enunciated. The eighteenth century was the age of cocksureness, the age in which all phenomena were thought to be capable of simple explanation.
This is well exemplified by the doctrines of the Manchester school as regards political and economic science. The whole art of legislation was thought to be summed up in the words laissez faire. The whole sphere of legitimate government was asserted to be the keeping of order and the enforcing of contracts. Experience has demonstrated that a State guided solely by these principles is wretchedly governed. A large proportion of recent Acts of Parliament limits the freedom of contract. Such limitations are necessary in the case of contracts between the weak and the strong. Similarly the earlier economists considered political economy a very simple affair. They asserted that men are actuated by but one motive—the love of money. All their men were economic men, men devoid of all attributes save an intense love of gold. Experience has shown that these premises are not correct. Love of family, pride of race, caste prejudices are more or less deeply implanted in men, so that they are rarely actuated solely by the love of money.
The Aim of the Biologist
Thus it is that the political economy of to-day as set forth by Marshall is far more complex and less dogmatic than that of Ricardo or Adam Smith. Similarly the political philosophy of Sidgwick is very different to that of Herbert Spencer. So is it with the theory of organic evolution. The theory of natural selection is no more able to explain all the varied phenomena of nature than is Ricardo’s assumption that all men are actuated solely by the love of money capable of accounting for the multifarious existing economic phenomena. Even as the love of wealth is an important motive of human actions, so is natural selection an important factor in evolution. But even as the majority of human actions are the resultant of a variety of motives, so are the majority of existing organisms the resultant of a complex system of forces. Even as it is the duty of the economist to discover the various motives which lead to human actions, so is it the duty of the biologist to bring to light the factors which are operative in the making of species.
CHAPTER II
SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION
Brief statement of Theory—Objections to the Theory fall into two classes—Those which strike at the root of the Theory—Those which deny the all-sufficiency of Natural Selection—Objections which strike at root of Theory are based on misconception—Objections to Wallaceism—The Theory fails to explain the origin of Variations—Natural Selection called on to explain too much—Unable to explain beginnings of new organs—The Theory of change of function—The co-ordination of variations—The fertility of races of domesticated animals—Missing links—Swamping effects of intercrossing—Small variations cannot have a survival value—Races inhabiting same area—Excessive specialisation—Chance and Natural Selection—Struggle for existence most severe among young animals—Natural Selection fails to explain mimicry and other phenomena of colour—Conclusion, that scarcely an organism exists which does not possess some feature inexplicable on the theory of Natural Selection as held by Wallace and his followers.
“The burden of proof is on him who asserts” is a rule of evidence which the man of science should apply as rigidly as does the lawyer.
It is therefore incumbent upon us to prove our assertion that the theory of natural selection does not afford an adequate explanation of all the varied phenomena observed in the organic world.
Theory of Natural Selection
The theory of natural selection is so generally understood, that to set it forth in detail in this place would be quite superfluous.