Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/114

90 to have existed as an implement-using creature in the last Glacial epoch. His probable origin cannot, therefore, have been later than the beginning of the Plistocene. The place of origin was probably somewhere in Southern Asia."

In the evolution of man Prof. Haeckel is an advocate of the "heredity of acquired characters." In this he is in distinct antagonism with Weismann and his followers. That this is not the crime against Darwinism frequently advanced is to be gathered from the testimony of the Professor, who states that on the three occasions he visited Darwin "we discussed this fundamental question in complete harmony." The following observations seem incontestable. "If one denies with Weismann the heredity of acquired characters, then it becomes necessary to have recourse to purely mystical qualities of germ-plasm. I am of the opinion of Spencer, that in that case it would be better to accept a mysterious creation of all the various species as described in the Mosaic account."

Zoology has only fulfilled her mission in the discussion of this question. For a long time indeed will she foster the study of "man's place in nature." We are not concerned whether science ultimately solves the problem—absolute truth will probably be the ideal more than the goal of our enquiries; but we may rest assured that "the work done in the present century by Lamarck and Darwin will in all future times be considered one of the greatest conquests made by thinking man."

is what we venture to designate as a real zoological publication, restricting its scope as purely scientific and technical. Dr. Willey made an expedition to the Pacific in search of the eggs of the Pearly Nautilus, an enterprise, in a biological sense, as much, or more, important than many other belauded expeditions. But science is not justified in all her children. This publication is devoted to the description and elucidation of the general