Abstract
SINCE the advent of natural selection the mechanistic interpretation of Nature has on the. whole steadily gained ground among biologists., The trend has been more and more towards the translation of vital phenomena in terms of physics and chemistry. Much of modern investigation, such as the discovery of artificial parthenogenesis or the establishing of the Mendelian principles among the phenomena of heredity, has undoubtedly strengthened the mechanistic position. Yet to all action succeeds reaction. To-day there is an evident tendency in many quarters to. cast on one side the mechanistic., interpreter and seek out other prophets. The note sounded thirty years ago by the acute and critical intellect of Samuel Butler is finding echoes among. biological workers. Such a one was the author of this book.. The “Introduction to a Biology” was designed, we are told, to direct attention to the failure of modern interpretative biology and to suggest the direction in which an understanding of life may be sought. Unhappily the work is but a fragment cut short by the author's premature death.
An Introduction to a Biology, and Other Papers.
By A. D. Darbishire. Pp. xviii + 291. (London: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1917.) Price 7s 6d. net.
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An Introduction to a Biology, and Other Papers . Nature 99, 304 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/099304a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/099304a0