BY
ARTHUR M. LEWIS
THIRD EDITION
CHICAGO
CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY
1908
| Page | ||
| I | THALES TO LINNAEUS | 7 |
| II | LINNAEUS TO LAMARCK | 24 |
| III | DARWIN’S “NATURAL SELECTION” | 38 |
| IV | WEISMANN’S THEORY OF HEREDITY | 60 |
| V | DE VRIES’ “MUTATION” | 81 |
| VI | KROPOTKIN’S “MUTUAL AID” | 97 |
| VII | A REPLY TO HAECKEL | 115 |
| VIII | SPENCER’S “SOCIAL ORGANISM” | 133 |
| IX | SPENCER’S INDIVIDUALISM | 149 |
| X | CIVILIZATION—WARD AND DIETZGEN | 168 |
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The contents of this volume consist of thefirst ten lectures of the thirty-five in the Wintercourse of 1907–08. They were delivered inthe Garrick Theater, Chicago, on Sunday morningsto crowded houses. On several occasionshalf as many people were turned away asmanaged to get in. If these lectures meet withas warm a reception when read as they didwhen heard, I shall be more than satisfied. Fora fuller discussion of the Greek period, brieflydealt with in the first lecture, see EdwardClodd’s “Pioneers of Evolution” to which workthe early part of this lecture is greatly indebted.
Every lecture proceeds on the assumption,that a knowledge of the natural sciences, andespecially the great revolutionizing generalizationswhich they have revealed, is indispensableto a modern education.
This position is by no means new. It pervadesthe classic literature of Socialismthroughout. Liebknecht, speaking of Marxand himself says: “Soon we were on the fieldof Natural Science, and Marx ridiculed thevictorious reaction in Europe that fancied ithad smothered the revolution and did not4suspect that Natural Science was preparing anew revolution.”
The only thing I have succeeded in doingwhich is at all new, is presenting these so-calledheavy subjects in a way that attractsand retains a large and enthusiastic audienceSunday after Sunday eight months of the year.
These lectures, nothwithstanding theirphenomenal success, have aroused some opposition,in certain quarters among Socialists.This opposition arises almost wholly from thefact that the Socialists in que