Materials for the study of variation : treated with especial regard to discontinuity in the origin of species / by William Bateson.

  • Bateson, William, 1861-1926.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Materials for the study of variation : treated with especial regard to discontinuity in the origin of species / by William Bateson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/624 (page VIII)
    vili PREFACE. phenomena, pointing out what they shew and what they do not shew, having regard always to deficiencies in the evidence. That this is a dangerous course I am aware. But in any discussion of a problem in the light of insufficient knowledge the real danger is not that a particular conclusion may be wrong, for that is a transient fault, but rather that the facts themselves may be so distorted as to be valueless to others when the conclusions that they were used to shew have been discarded. This danger I have sought indifferently to avoid by printing the facts as far as possible apart from all comment, knowing well how temporary the worth of these comments is likely to be. I have thus tried to avoid general statements and have kept the descriptions to particular cases, unless the number of similar cases is great and an inclusive description is enough. Each separate paragraph relating a fact has been as far as possible isolated and made to stand alone ; so that if any one may hereafter care to go on with the work he will be able to cut out the discarded comments and rearrange the facts in any order preferred, inserting new facts as they come to hand. Most of these facts are numbered for reference. The numbers are distrib¬ uted on no strict system, but are put in where likely to be useful. For almost every fact stated or mentioned one reference at least is given. When this is not the case the fact is either notorious, or else the result of my own observation. In collecting evidence I have freely used the collections of former writers, especially those of Geoffroy St Hilaire, Ahlfeld, and Wenzel Gruber, but unless the contrary is stated, each passage referred to has been seen in its original place. By this system I hope I have avoided evidence corrupted by repetition. Several well known conceptions, notably that of the presence of order in abnormality, first formulated by Isidore Geoffroy St Hilaire, have been developed and exhibited in their relation to recent views. The professed morphologist will note that many of the state¬ ments are made on authority unfamiliar to him. I have spared no pains to verify the facts wherever possible, and no case has been admitted without remark if there was reason to doubt its authen¬ ticity. So long as skilled zoologists continue to neglect all forms that are abnormal the student of Variation must turn to other sources. This neglect of the Study of A^ariation may be attributed in