--Yours very truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
TO PROF. POULTON
_Parkstone, Dorset. June 16, 1892._
My dear Mr. Poulton,--Many thanks for sending me Weismann's additional
Essays,[20] which I look forward to reading with much pleasure. I have,
however, read the first, and am much disappointed with it. It seems to
me the _weakest and most inconclusive_ thing he has yet written. At p.
17 he states his theory as to degeneration of eyes, and again, on p. 18,
of anthers and filaments; but in both cases he fails to _prove_ it, and
apparently does not see that his panmixia, or "cessation of selection,"
cannot possibly produce _continuous_ degeneration culminating in the
total or almost total disappearance of an organ. Romanes and others have
pointed out this weakness in his theory, but he does not notice it, and
goes on calmly throughout the essay to _assume_ that mere panmixia must
cause progressive degeneration to an unlimited extent; whereas all it
can do is to effect a reduction to the average of the total population
on which selection has been previously worked. He says "individuals with
weak eyes would not be eliminated," but omits to notice that individuals
with strong eyes would also "not be eliminated," and as there is no
reason alleged why variations in _all directions_ should not occur as
before, the free intercrossing would tend to keep up a mean condition
only a little below that which was kept up by selection.
Pages:
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74