But Weismann's contention is that this principle is not only true in the main, but _absolutely_ true; so that natural selection becomes all in all or not at all. Unless Weismannism be regarded as this doctrine of absolutism it permits no basis for his attempted theory of evolution. And, whatever may be said to the contrary by the more enthusiastic followers of Prof. Weismann, I must insist that there is the widest possible difference between the truly scientific question of fact which is assumed by Weismann as answered (the base-line of the diagram on p. 43), and the elaborate structure of deductive reasoning which he has reared on this assumption (the Y-like structure). Even if the assumption should ever admit of inductive proof, the almost bewildering edifice of deductive reasoning which he has built upon it would still appear to me to present extremely little value of a scientific kind. Interesting though it may be as a monument of ingenious speculation hitherto unique in the history of science, the mere flimsiness of its material must always prevent its far-reaching conclusions from being worthy of serious attention from a biological point of view. But having already attempted to show fully in my _Examination_ this great distinction between the scientific importance of the question which lies at the base of "Weismannism," and that of the system which he has constructed on his assumed answer thereto, I need not now say anything further with regard to it. Again, on the present occasion and in this connexion I should like to dissipate a misunderstanding into which some of the reviewers of the work just mentioned have fallen. They appear to have concluded that because I have criticized unfavourably a considerable number of Weismann's theories, I have shown myself hostile to his entire system. Such, however, is by no means the case; and the misunderstanding can only be accounted for by supposing that the strongly partisan spirit which these critics display on the side of neo-Darwinism has rendered them incapable of appreciating any attempt at impartial--or even so much as independent--criticism. At all events, it is a matter of fact that throughout the work in question I have been particularly careful to avoid this misunderstanding as to my own position. Over and over again it is there stated that, far from having any objection to the principle of "Continuity" as represented in the base-line of the above diagram, I have been convinced of its truth ever since reading Mr. Galton's _Theory of Heredity_ in 1875. All the "hard words" which I have written against Weismann's system of theories have reference to those parts of it which go to constitute the Y-like structure of the diagram.