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Excerpt from Modern Biology and the Theory of Evolution At the present day it is incumbent upon every educated man to familiarise himself to some extent with the progress made and the results attained by modern science, and especially by biology. Only in this way will he be in a position to form any opinion regarding the intellectual contest that rages round certain important philosophical problems arising out of biology, namely, the comparative psychology of man and beasts and the theory of evolution. I have already dealt with the former of these two problems in two special works, intended for general reading, viz.: 'Instinkt und Intelligenz im Tierreich' ('Instinct and Intelligence in the Animal Kingdom') (third edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1905), and 'Vergleichende Studien liber das Seelenleben der Ameisen und der hoheren Tiere ('Comparative Studies regarding the intelligence of ants and the higher animals') (second edition, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1900). My aim in the present work is to comply with wishes expressed in various quarters, and to render my articles on biology and evolution accessible to readers in general. These sketches appeared originally as a series of articles in the magazine entitled Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, 1901-3. Even in their present considerably expanded form they are still sketches, with no pretensions to completeness, as they are intended chiefly for readers who have no special knowledge of the departments of science with which I have dealt. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This 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 ou