But in the present case, as we have seen, not only do the Neo-Darwinians strain the teachings of Darwin; they positively reverse those teachings--representing as anti-Darwinian the whole of one side of Darwin's system, and calling those who continue to accept that system in its entirety by the name "Lamarckians." I know it is sometimes said by members of this school, that in his utilization of Lamarckian principles as accessory to his own, Darwin was actuated by motives of "generosity." But a more preposterous suggestion could not well be made. We may fearlessly challenge any one who speaks or writes in such a way, to show any other instance where Darwin's great generosity of disposition had the effect of influencing by one hair's breadth his still greater loyalty to truth. Moreover, and with special regard to this particular case, I would point out that in no one of his many allusions to, and often lengthy discussions of, these so-called Lamarckian principles, does he ever once introduce the name of Lamarck; while, on the other hand, in the only places where he does so--whether in his books or in his now published letters--he does so in order to express an almost contemptuous dissatisfaction, and a total absence of obligation. Hence, having regard to the "generosity" with which he always acknowledged obligations, there can be no reasonable doubt that Darwin was not in the smallest degree influenced by the speculative writings of Lamarck; or that, even if Lamarck had never lived, the _Origin of Species_ would have differed in any single particular from the form in which it now stands. Finally, it must not be forgotten that Darwin's acceptance of the theory of use-inheritance was vitally essential to his theory of Pangenesis--that "beloved child" over which he had "thought so much as to have lost all power of judging it[9]."
[9] _Life and Letters_, vol. iii. pp. 72 and 75.
What has just been said touching the relations between Darwin's theory and that of Lamarck, applies with equal force to the relations between Darwin's theory and any other theory appertaining to evolution which has already been, or may hereafter be propounded. Yet so greatly have some of the Neo-Darwinians misunderstood the teachings of Darwin, that they represent as "Darwinian heresy" any suggestions in the way of factors "supplementary to," or "co-operative with" natural selection. Of course, if these naturalists were to avow themselves followers of Wallace, instead of followers of Darwin, they would be perfectly justified in repudiating any such suggestions as, _ipso facto_ heretical. But, as we have now seen, through all his life Darwin differed from Wallace with regard to this very point; and therefore, unlike Wallace, he was always ready to entertain "additional suggestions" regarding the causes of organic evolution--several of which, indeed, he himself supplied. Hence we arrive at this curious state of matters. Those biologists who of late years have been led by Weismann to adopt the opinions of Wallace, represent as anti-Darwinian the opinions of other biologists who still adhere to the unadulterated doctrines of Darwin. Weismann's _Essays on Heredity_ (which argue that natural selection is the only possible cause of adaptive modification) and Wallace's work on _Darwinism_ (which in all the respects where any charge of "heresy" is concerned directly contradicts the doctrine of Darwin)--these are the writings which are now habitually represented by the Neo-Darwinians as setting forth the views of Darwin in their "pure" form. The result is that, both in conversation and in the press, we habitually meet with complete inversions of the truth, which show the state of confusion into which a very simple matter has been wrought by the eagerness of certain naturalists to identify the views of Darwin with those of Wallace and Weismann. But we may easily escape this confusion, if we remember that wherever in the writings of these naturalists there occur such phrases as "pure Darwinism" we are to understand pure _Wallaceism_, or the pure theory of natural selection to the exclusion of any supplementary theory. Therefore it is that for the sake of clearness I coined, several years ago, the terms "Neo-Darwinian" and "Ultra-Darwinian" whereby to designate the school in question.