關於進化動力問題

ON THE DRIVING FORCE OF EVOLUTION

一、问题的历史 (一) 从古以来,人们对於进化动力问题就存在着种种不同的见解。主张自然阶梯理论的亚理斯多德(公元前384—322)和波奈(1720—1793)认为自然界的生物等级现象是灵魂或上帝作用的结果。拉马克(1744—1829)的等级学说,在说明生物向上发展的问题上也采取相类似的观点。直生论者内格利(1817—1891)、柯普(1840—1897)、埃麦(1843—1898)等则主张生物由于内部的某种神秘的力量而向上发展。

In this paper various views on the driving force of evolution have been historically reviewed. According to the present writer, in the study of the causes of evolution, truth is with Darwinism. The writer agrees with Darwin in believing the crea- tiveness of natural selection, the directiveness of the action of the conditions of life. The writer has shown that there is abundance of facts to support the view that the driving force of evolution lies in the conditions of life, in the environment. The surrounding conditions of life are the basic causes of most variations and the agents of selection. It is the action of the surronnding en- vironment that constantly brings about variation and also usually takes part in some way in determining the nature of variation. It is the action of the sur- rounding environment that determines this or that variation which can survive and develop furthur. This does not deny the importance of heredity in the formation of various life-forms. According to the present writer, the surrounding environment acts through the interrelation of heredity and adaptation. The changes of environmental conditions may bring about in organism a process of adaptation, in which he- reditary change may take place and this may be the starting point of the gradu- al transformation of one form of life into another. Various forms of life in the world were not created by any supernatural force, nor did they take shape spontaneously. They evolved and are evolving under the guiding force of the environmental conditions of life, through the interaction between heredity and adaptation. Here opens the immense possibility of controlling evolution for the good of man.