Problems of biology / [George Sandeman].

  • Sandeman, George
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Problems of biology / [George Sandeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    58/232 page 46
    CHAPTER II. THE FIRST POSTULATE OF BIOLOGY. The first postulate of the systematic biology is, that the qualities of the individual are separate constituent elements of which the organism is the total sum. The qualities are thus independent of one another as regards their signifi- cance, maintenance, development in the individual, existence as latent, inheritance and variation, and acquirement by the race. This postulate at once demands and makes possible the theories of the anthropomorphic agents in the individual, and the doctrines of adaptation by the transfor- mation of species. The fact of its authority over the biological systems may be found in the open statement of the doctrine by the more critical theorists, and it may also be found as implied in the work of others, and especially in certain definite conceptions and arguments which arise out of it. And I shall seek it in these various ways, beginning with the most notable examples of its dogmatic assertion. De Vries, in his work entitled “ Intracellular Pangenesis,” opens his argument, as is rarely done in biology, with a clear statement of method. He at once finds it necessary to make an exact definition of the nature of organic qualities and of their significance to the individual, and bases the whole matter upon a frank statement of our postu- late. The following words, taken from his opening pages, could not be more clear upon the matter :— “ Among the many advantages which have given to the doctrine of descent so great a significance for the investi-
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3