Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/323

* NATUBAL LAW. 279 NATUBAL SELECTION. liberty, and pro])('i- Against Natural-Law Theories. The lirst notewortliy philosopliical reaction against the revolutionary natural-law theories was that of llobbes (q.v.). Equally hostile to natural-law theories was, especially at the out- set, the historical school of jurispiudenee. The conception of law as a jjroduct of historical evolution in each nation led to the assertion that there could be no such thing as eternal or universal law. With the development of com- parative study, however, it is again ])erceived that beneath all the diversity of national laws there is a substantially uniform element which m.ay be called human or universal or natural. This natural law, however, is substantially the jus grnliuin of the Romans or the 'natural jus- tice' of Aristotle, and not the natural law of the Stoics or of the ^Middle Ages; for it is not dis- I I'rnod by reason, it is rather revealed by the (onduct of the human race. See Jurisprudence ,ind Law. The following are some of the more recent works; in them will be found ample references to the older literature. Ahrens, ('ours dc droit iinturcl (8th ed., Leipzig, 1892) ; Anzilotti, La sciiola del dirHlo iidiurale (Florence, 1892) ; Bergbohui, Das XaturrrrJit der Cler;riiiritrt (Leip- zig, 18!12) ; Gierke, Johannes Allhusius xuid die F.ntioickeluiig der ■niitiirrcchtlichcn Staatsiheo- rien (ib., 1880) ; Lorimer, Institutes of Laic: A Treatise of the I'rinciples of Jurisprudence as Determined hi/ X<iture{2d ed., Edinburgh, 1880) ; !Mendizabal y JIartin, Llementos de derecho natu- ral (2d ed., Saragossa, 1897-90) ; Meyer, Jnstitu- iion-es Luris Xaturalis Hecurulum Prin-cipia H. Tliomw AquiiMtis (Freiburg, 1900); Rothe, Traite de droit naturel (Paris, 1884-95). NATURAL BIGHTS. See Natural L.vw. NATUBAL SELECTION. The evolution idea is as old as the time of the Greek phi- losophers, but that form of it called natural selection, or Darwinism, dates from 18.58, when the theory was stated by Darwin (q.v.) and also by Wallace (q.v.), each independently of the other. Nearly a century earlier BufTon. and afterwards Erasmus Darwin, had suggested that species were uuitable. and that all living beings h.ad descended from some primitive type or germ, the transformation having been effected by changes of climate, food, exercise, and so on. But the real founder of the modern theory of organic evolution was Lamarck (q.v.; see also Lamarckism). The chief agents or factors of organic evolution which he proposed were changes of environment, of climate, soil, food, tempera- ture, use. and disuse, while he briefly mentions the agency of competition, the results of geo- graphical isolation, and the swamping effects of crossing, besides use-inheritance. Although sup- ported by a few. though well-seleeterj. facts, La- marck's views were, owing to the influence of Cuvier, and the deep-seated prejudice of the times, ignored and well-nigh forgotten, except to he called up and ridiculed. Yet between the date of Lamarck's death in 1829 and shortlv be- fore 18.58 nearly thirty naturalists, most of them of eminence, had publicly enunciated in a tentative way evolutional views — among them Grant, Wells, Naudiu, D'Halhjy, ScliaalThausen, Wallace in ISuo, and others, ileanwhile Hutton and Lyell had advanced uniforniitarian views in geology. Progress in the knowledge of the flora and fauna of the earth had greatly increased. The cell doctrine had l)een advanced ; the sciences of paleontology, eml)ryolog-. and morpliology had been founded and were rapidly gaining grcmnd. As early as March, 18.32, Herbert Spencer, in an essay published in the Leader, advocated the theory of the niodilieation of species by changes of environment, and a few years later adopted the word "evolution,' applying it to psychology, and later to sociology and comparative religion. HiSTORV OF THE KiSE OF THE SELECTION 'ThE- ORY. Such was the state of certain isolated scientific and philso])hie minds, though the rank and file of naturalists were either in- dill'erent or opposed to the theory of descent, when in 18.58 the preliminary essays of Dar- win and of Wallace were given to the pul)lic. Their views, which were destined to give such a decided imjuilse to biological inquiry, were inde]iendently confiruied by several biological experts after years of experience and research in all parts of the globe. The botanist Sir Joseph D. Hooker, when surgeon and natural- ist of the Errbvs in the Antarctic expedition un- der Sir .John Ross, published a flora of New Zealand, a Flora Antarctica, and in 18.59 pub- lished his Introduction to the Flora of Australia, in which he advoeateil the selection theory. Be- fore this (1858) Wallace had spent four years on the Amazon, and afterwards eight years in the East Indian Archipelago, making large col- lections and careful observations. Meanwhile Charles Darwin, as the naturalist of the Beagle for nearly five years (1831-30) during her voyage around the world, was constantly exercising his marvelous powers as an observer. What chiefly led him, as early as 1839, to begin to favor the theory of descent, were his observations on the fossil mammals, the colossal armadillos and sloths, and the like, of South America, which ap- peared to be the ancestors of the degenerate forms now living; also the occurrence of local species on each of the Galapagos Islands, which be found to be very similar to those of the South Ameri- can coast, and yet slightly different. The result was that after twenty years of observations, ex- periments in his garden, and reflection, he elabo- rated the theory of natural sclectioTi. On the first of .Jvdy, 1837. he opened his first note-book to record any facts bearing on the origin of species, but "did not become convinced that species were mutable until two or three years had elapsed." More than a year after (October, 1838), he says: "I happened to read for anuisement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to ap])reciate the struggle for ex- istence which everywhere goes on from long-con- tinued observations of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck mo that under these cir- cumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would he the formation of neto species." It is worthy of notice that Malthus was the father of natural selection, that the Essay on Population was the source of inspira- tion of both Darwin and Wallace, and that to