The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection

Abstract

So melancholy a neglect of Darwin's work suggests reflections upon the use of those rare and precious possessions of man—great books. It was, we believe, the custom of the late Professor Freeman to warn his students that mastery of one great book was worth any amount of knowledge of many lesser ones. The tendency of modern scientific teaching is to neglect the great books, to lay far too much stress upon relatively unimportant modern work, and to present masses of detail of doubtful truth and questionable weight in such a way as to obscure principles … . How many biological students of today have read The Origin? The majority know it only from extracts, a singularly ineffective means, for a work of genius does not easily lend itself to the scissors; its unity is too marked. Nothing can really take the place of a first-hand study of the work itself. R. A. Fisher and C. S. Stock (1915) [Fisher was 25 years old and his student friend Stock 27 in 1915. Professor E. A. Freeman was Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, 1884–1892.]