Evolution and Animal Life: An Elementary Discussion of Facts, Processes, Laws and Theories Relating to the Life and Evolution of Animals (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Evolution and Animal Life: An Elementary Discussion of Facts, Processes, Laws and Theories Relating to the Life and Evolution of AnimalsIn the present volume the writers have tried to give a lucid elementary account, in limited space, of the processes of evolution as they are so far understood. We have turned to animals for illustrative purposes, nearly to the exclusion of references to plants, simply because both authors arc zoologists and have made use of the facts most familiar to them.The book is composed primarily of the substance of a university course of elementary lectures delivered jointly by the authors each year to students representing all lines of college work. This fact, and the desirable limiting of the book to a convenient size for the general reader and student, account for the extremely laconic treatment of various important moot points concerning the evolution mechanism, and for the omission of certain discussions which otherwise might well have been included. But on the whole the authors feel that the interested general reader will find this small volume a fairly comprehensive introduction to our present-day knowledge of the factors and phenomena of organic evolution.To the general reader we may perhaps with propriety address the following words, used to the students in the opening lecture of the course:We cannot talk long without saying something others do not believe. Others cannot talk long without saying something we do not believe. We wish you to accept 110 view of ours unless you reach it through your own investigation. What we hope for is to have you think of these things and find out for yourselves.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.