_ 32 I.e._, The occurrence of saltatory, transilient, or discontinuous variations or mutations.
_ 33 I.e._, The emergence of a distinctively new pattern of organisation.
34 See H. G. Bronn’s Appendix to his translation of Darwin’s “Origin of Species.” First German edition.
35 Finally and comprehensively in the two volumes we have already mentioned, “Vorträge über die Deszendenztheorie,” Jena, 1902 (Eng. trans., London, 1904). “Natural selection depends essentially upon the cumulative augmentation of the most minute useful variations in the direction of their utility; only the useful is developed and increased, and great effects are brought about slowly through the summing up of many very minute steps.... But the philosophical significance of natural selection lies in the fact that it shows us how to explain the origin of useful, well-adapted structures purely by mechanical factors, and without having to fall back upon a directive principle.”
36 If it were not white it would be observed by the seals, which would thus avoid being devoured by it. See Weismann, I., p. 70. (English edition, p. 65.)
37 It is almost comical when Weismann, the champion of the purely naturalistic outlook, occasionally forgets his rôle altogether, and puts in a word for “chance,” or attempts to soften absolute predetermination. For if even a single wolf should destroy a stag “by chance,” or if a single “id” should “chance” to grow in a manner slightly different from that laid down for it by the compelling force of preceding and accompanying circumstances, the whole Darwinian edifice would be labour lost.
38 See Darwin, “... chance variations. Unless such occur, natural selection can do nothing.”
39 “Die Darwinsehe Theorie. Gemeinverständliche Vorlesungen über die Naturphilosophie der Gegenwart gehalten vor Studierenden aller Fakultäten,” Leipzig, 1903. This book is the continuation of the author’s “Deszendenztheorie.”
40 Fleischmann’s book compares favourably with those of other naturalists, in that he does not contrast “Moses” and natural science, as is customary, but has a deeper knowledge of the modern view of Genesis I. than is usually found among naturalists, whether of the “positive” or “negative” standpoint.