Note 144 — SYSTEMATICS AND HISTORY

It seems to me that my argument gives a broader logical basis to the theory of descent than does that of G. Wolff (Die Begründung der Abstammungslehre, München, 1907). Wolff starts from the concept of organic teleology, and thus finds the only reason for accepting the theory of transformism in the existence of so-called “rudimentary organs”; these organs would form an obstacle to teleology if they could not be regarded as inherited.