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lection in breeding plants and animals, and resulting in the survival of the fittest. The theory of natural selection supposes that this has been brought about mainly by gradual changes of environment which have led to corresponding changes of structure, and that those forms which have become so modified as to be best…

One who believes in, or conforms to, the theory of naturism. Boyle.

The theory which holds natural selection, as explained by Darwin, to be the chief factor in the evolution of plants and animals, and denies the inheritance of acquired characters; -- esp. opposed to Neo-Lamarckism. Weismannism is an example of extreme Neo- Darwinism. -- Ne`o-Dar*win"i*an, a. & n.

The philosophy of modern thinkers who follow Kant in his general theory of knowledge, esp. of a group of German philosophers including F. A. Lange, H. Cohen, Paul Natorp, and others.

A theory or practice which is a further development, on more rigorously scientific lines, of the theory and practice of Impressionism, originated by George Seurat (1859-91), and carried on by Paul Signac (1863- -) and others. Its method is marked by the laying of pure primary colors in minute dots upon a white ground,…

Neptunian rocks. Neptunian races (Ethnol.), the Malay and Polynesian races. -- Neptunian theory (Geol.), the theory of Werner, which referred the formation of all rocks and strata to the agency of water; -- opposed to the Plutonic theory.

One who adopts the neptunian theory.

tude. AS a therapeutic doctrine it stands for silent and absent mental treatment, and the theory that all diseases are mental in origin. As a cult it has its unifying idea the inculcation of workable optimism in contrast with the "old thought" of sin, evil, predestination, and pessimistic resignation. The term is essen…

posed to the theories of Descartes and others), and, most frequently, to the mathematical theory of universal gravitation. -- Newtonian telescope (Astron.), a reflecting telescope, in which rays from the large speculum are received by a plane mirror placed diagonally in the axis, and near the open end of the tube, and…

A system of treatment based on the theory that diseases are chiefly due to deranged mechanism of the bones, nerves, blood vessels, and other tissues, and can be remedied by manipulations of these parts.

The old theory that the egg contains the whole embryo of the future organism and the germs of all subsequent offsprings and is merely awakened to activity by the spermatozoön; -- opposed to spermism or animalculism.

A believer in the theory (called encasement theory), current during the last century, that the egg was the real animal germ, and that at the time of fecundation the spermatozoa simply gave the impetus which caused the unfolding of the egg, in which all generations were inclosed one within the other. Also called ovist.…

The theory that all nature is psychical or has a psychical aspect; the theory that every particle of matter has a psychical character or aspect. -- Pan*psy"chic (#), a. -- Pan*psy"chist (#), n. -- Pan`psy*chis"tic (#), a.

A believer in panspermy; one who rejects the theory of spontaneous generation; a biogenist.

The theory or practice of the medical profession; -- used in burlesque or ridicule.

One who favors or supports the theory of a pantisocracy. Macaulay.

involving strict and intimate supervision of their business and social concerns, upon the theory that they are incapable of managing their own afffairs.

The theory or practice of paternal government. See Paternal government, under Paternal. London Times.

y or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story. "Pathetic action." Macaulay. No theory of the passions can teach a man to be pathetic. E. Porter. Pathetic muscle (Anat.), the superior oblique muscle of the eye. -- Pathetic nerve (Anat.), the fourth cranial, or trochlear, nerve, which supplies the superior ob…

A theory which explains inheritance by the transmission of the type of growth force possessed by one generation to another.