Descendenzlehre und Darwinismus

Abstract

THIS volume of three hundred pages is one of the “International Scientific Library.” It is a moderate exposition of the Darwinian theory of Evolution, intended for general readers, and while free from the eccentricities of Hæckel's Anthropogenie, also lacks the brilliancy and power which redeem its faults. Prof. Schmidt while still at Gratz became a convert to “the new philosophy,” and in his Vergleichende Anatomie (NATURE, vol. v. p. 228) adopted its conclusions as the basis of his teaching. In a paper read before the “British Association” of Germany two years ago, at Wiesbaden, he stated and defended his change of opinion, and now that he is established as professor in Strassburg University, he puts forward this volume as a fuller exposition of his views—“for here one must show one's colours.” It is perhaps undesirable for people to attempt arriving at the results of science by such easy roads as popular treatises, and “The Descent of Man” itself is a better interpretation of Darwinism than the expository treatises of Darwinists; but there is undoubtedly a demand for books of this kind, and if they are to be written, it is well that so competent a hand as Prof. Oscar Schmidt's should do it. There are several woodcuts, a good list of references, and the inevitable genealogical trees. Descendenzlehre und Darwinismus. Von Oscar Schmidt. (Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1873.)