Initiative in Evolution — Themes and Context

A Legal Metaphor for Scientific Debate

Kidd’s preface frames the entire book as a legal proceeding. He writes that the war imposed a moratorium, leaving causes over to the next term, and that the Lamarck versus Weismann case is now due to be heard afresh. He calls his chapters “pleadings on behalf of the plaintiff” and himself a “junior counsel.” This is not mere ornament: it structures the argument as a case to be won, with evidence and cross-examination. Kidd warns against retreating into a stronghold, citing Milner’s The End of Controversy as a book that should have been subtitled The End of Progress. He aligns himself with Newtons, Pasteurs, and Darwins, who seldom wielded controversy, while acknowledging his own Gibeonite role—a necessary but lesser helper. The metaphor recurs throughout, giving the scientific exposition a forensic edge.

Friction Skin as Evidence for Use-Inheritance

Kidd devotes careful attention to the skin of palms and soles, which he calls “friction skin,” a term borrowed from Wilder Harris and Inez Whipple. He notes that these regions lack hair and sebaceous glands but contain up to 320 sweat glands per square centimeter, plus papillary ridges. For Kidd, this specialization is a product of repeated pressure and friction over evolutionary time. He argues that the dorsal and extensor surfaces of the body receive more stimuli from lying and sitting than the ventral and flexor surfaces, leading to thicker epidermis on the former and thinner skin on the latter. He asks pointedly whether these differences are “adapted for” or “adapted by” experience, coming down firmly on the side of use-inheritance. He even dismisses survival value, calling the results “indifferent modifications” that merely did not cause the animal to be sieved out.

Hair Patterns and the Lamarckian Mechanism

Kidd’s earlier work on hair direction informs this book. He sees hair patterns as another product of habitual friction and pressure. In the excerpts, he mentions that man’s hairless palms and soles are exceptions, while most mammals lack hair on their pads. He connects this to the “total experience” of stimulus and response over vast stretches of time. Kidd is careful to note that many individuals were exposed to similar stimuli at each stage, implying a cumulative effect across generations. He does not claim that these changes conferred survival advantage or better matrimonial prospects; instead, he treats them as neutral modifications that nonetheless demonstrate the power of use. This argumentative strategy—downplaying adaptation while emphasizing causation—is central to his case against Darwinian natural selection.

The Rhetoric of the Old Contemptibles

Kidd enlists Wilder Harris and Inez Whipple as “allies for us ‘Old Contemptibles’ in the struggle, Lamarck v. Darwin.” This phrase, borrowed from the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, casts the Lamarckians as a beleaguered but tenacious minority. Kidd’s tone is genial but combative: he thanks his allies while implying that mainstream Darwinians are entrenched authorities who need questioning. He writes with urbanity, but his metaphors—courtrooms, sieves, strongholds—reveal a deep commitment to overturning the Weismannian orthodoxy. The excerpts show a writer who is both a meticulous observer of anatomical detail and a polemicist unafraid to name his opponents. This blend of science and advocacy gives the book its distinctive character.

Readers should approach Initiative in Evolution as a period piece in the history of biology, one that argues passionately for a view that was already losing ground. Kidd’s strength lies in his concrete observations of skin and hair, not in theoretical innovation. His courtroom rhetoric can be distracting, but it also clarifies the stakes. For those interested in the Lamarckian tradition or the history of evolutionary thought, this book offers a vivid example of how evidence was marshaled for a losing cause.

Kidd’s courtroom metaphor stayed with me long after closing the book—that quiet urgency of evidence pleading its case. It reminded me of how A first book in organic evolution — Reading Companion once sat with me, its gentler framing of change feeling less like a verdict and more like a slow, patient tide. Some books leave that hushed afterglow.