and must return to doing this if we are to describe things simply
and as they actually occur, is precisely what is most instructive in
the matter.
86 “Beiträge zur Kritik der Darwinschen Lehre,” which was first
published in the “Biologisches Zentralblatt,” 1898.
87 Leipzig, 1892.
88 Before Wigand’s larger works there had appeared F. Delpino:
“Applicazione della Teoria Darwinia ai Fiori ed agli Insetti
Visitatori dei Fiori” (Bull. della Societa Entomologica Ital.,
Florence 1870). He says: “Un principio intrinsico, reagente, finchè
dura la vita, contro le influenze estrinseche ossia contro gli
agenti chimici e fisici.”
89 “Elemente der Wissenschaftlichen Botanik. Biologie der Pflanzen.”
1889.
90 “Lehrbuch der Biologie der Pflanzen.” Stuttgart, 1895.
_ 91 Cf._ Cohn, “Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen,” vii. 407, See
especially the concluding chapter, “Einiges über Functionen der
einzelnen Zellorgane.” From Zoology we may cite E. Teichmann’s
investigation, “Ueber die Beziehung zwischen Astrosphären und
Furchen.” “Experimentelle Untersuchungen am Seeigelei” (“Archiv. f.
Entw. Mech.” xvi. 2, 1903). This paper contains no references to
“psychical phenomena,” “power,” or “will,” and we cannot but approve
of this in technical research. But it is pointed out that the
mechanistic interpretation of the detailed processes of development
has definite limitations, and we are referred to “fundamental
characters of living matter which we must take for granted.”
This is even more decidedly the case in Tad. Garbowski’s beautiful
“Morphogenetische Studien, als Beitrag zur Methodologie zoologischer
Forschung.” These belong to the line of thought followed by Driesch
and Wolff, who are both frequently and approvingly quoted, and they
afford an excellent instance of that mood of dissatisfaction with
and protest against the “dogmas” of descent, selection and
phylogeny, which is observable in many quarters among the younger
generation of investigators. Garbowski vigorously combats Haeckel’s
theories of development, especially “the fundamental biogenetic law,
and the Gastræa theory.” He criticises “mechanistic” interpretations
of the development of the embryo, which “treat the living being
morphologically, as if the matter were one of vesicles, cylinders
and plates, and not of vital units”: and he does not look with
favour on “artificial amoebæ,” which can move, creep, and do
everything except live. The ideal of biology is of course always a
science with laws and equations, but the key to these will not be
found in mechanics. Garbowski’s studies may be highly recommended as
giving a sharp and vivid impression of the modern anti-mechanistic
tendencies observable even in technical research.
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