This collection of essays demonstrates the width of Darwin's interests and ability as a biologist. The theory of evolution by natural selection was, of course, his most important achievement and is covered in three of the essays: Wilkie presents Darwin's theory in its historical setting and relates it to the earlier work by Buffon and Lamarck; Haldane discusses the theory of evolution by natural selection, as postulated by Darwin, and assesses its validity in the light of subsequent research; and Challinor considers the apparent discrepancy between some of the fossil evidence and Darwin's theory, a problem which Darwin himself appreciated and discussed in The Origin of Species. The other essays deal with subjects about which Darwin wrote separate books. The essay by Bell is concerned with the movement of plants in response to light; that by Marler with communication between animals and that by Whitehouse with cross- and self-fertilization in plants.

Agnes Arber's international reputation is due in part to her exceptional ability to interpret the German tradition of scholarship for the English-speaking world. The Mind and the Eye is an erudite book, revealing its author's familiarity with philosophy from Plato and Aristotle through Aquinas to Kant and Hegel; but it is not dull, because the quiet enthusiasm of the author shines through. In this book she turns from the work of a specialist in one science to those wider questions which any scientist must ask at intervals. What, in short, is the relationship between the eye that sees and the mind that weighs and pronounces? An important feature of this Cambridge Science Classics reissue is the introduction provided by Professor P. R. Bell, who as a Cambridge botany student at the time that Agnes Arber was writing The Natural Philosopby of Plant Form, is uniquely able to set The Mind and the Eye in the context of contemporary biological research.