more defined, and, in a sense, more limited. The full implications of the group of ideas require, and are likely to receive, much attention in the immediate future of biological investigation, but it is enough at present to point out that until the more obvious lines of inquiry have been opened out much more fully, we cannot be in a position to guess at the existence of a residuum, for which such a metaphysical conception as bathmism would serve even as a convenient disguise for ignorance.
Almost every side of zoology has contributed to the theory of evolution, but of special importance are the facts and theories associated with the names of Gregor Mendel, A. Weismann and Hugo de Vries. These are discussed under the headings Heredity; Mendelism; and Variation and Selection. It has been a feature of great promise in recent contributions to the theory of evolution, that such contributions have received attention almost directly in proportion to the new methods of observation and the new series of facts with which they have come. Those have found little favour who brought to the debate only formal criticisms or amplifications of the Darwinian arguments, or re-marshallings of the Darwinian facts, however ably conducted. The time has not yet come for the attempt to synthesize the results of the many different and often apparently antagonistic groups of workers. The great work that is going on is the simplification of the facts to be explained by grouping them under empirical laws; and the most general statement relating to these that can yet be made is that no single one of these laws has as yet shown signs of taking rank as a vera causa comparable with the Darwinian principle of natural selection.
For evolution in relation to society see Sociology.
References.—Practically, every botanical and zoological publication of recent date has its bearing on evolution. The following are a few of the more general works: Bateson, Materials for the Study of Variation; Bunge, Vitalismus und Mechanismus; Cope, Origin of the Fittest, Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, Darwin’s Life and Letters; H. de Vries, Species and Varieties and their Origin by Mutation; Eimer, Organic Evolution; Gulick, “Divergent Evolution through Cumulative Segregation,” Jour. Linn. Soc. xx.; Haacke, Schöpfung des Menschen; Mitchell, “Valuation of Zoological Characters,” Trans. Linn. Soc. viii. pt. 7; Pearson, Grammar of Science; Romanes, Darwin and after Darwin; Sedgwick, Presidential Address to Section Zoology, Brit. Ass. Rep. 1899; Wallace, Darwinism; Weismann, The Germ-Plasm. Further references of great value will be found in the works of Bateson and Pearson referred to above, and in the annual volumes of the Zoological Record, particularly under the head “General Subject.” (P. C. M.)
EVORA, the capital of an administrative district in the
province of Alemtejo, Portugal; 72 m. E. by S. of Lisbon, on
the Casa Branca-Evora-Elvas railway. Pop. (1900) 16,020.
Evora occupies a fertile valley enclosed by low hills. It is surrounded
by ramparts flanked with towers, and is further
defended by two forts; but the neglected condition of these,
combined with the narrow arcaded streets and crumbling walls
of Roman or Moorish masonry, gives the city an appearance
corresponding with its real antiquity. Evora is the see of an
archbishop, and has several churches, convents and hospitals,
barracks, a diocesan school and a museum. A university,
founded in 1550, was abolished on the expulsion of the Jesuits
in the 18th century. The cathedral, originally a Romanesque
building erected 1186–1204, was restored in Gothic style about
1400; its richly decorated chancel was added in 1761. The
church of São Francisco (1507–1525) is a good example of the
blended Moorish and Gothic architecture known as Manoellian.
The art gallery, formerly the archbishop’s palace, contains a
collection of Portuguese and early Flemish paintings. An
ancient tower, and the so-called aqueduct of Sertorius, 9 m.
long, have been partly demolished to make room for the market-square,
in which one of the largest fairs in Portugal is held at
midsummer. Both tower and aqueduct were long believed to
have been of Roman origin, but are now known to have been
constructed about 1540–1555 in the reign of John III., at the
instance of an antiquary named Resende. The aqueduct was
probably constructed on the site of the old Roman one. A small
Roman temple is used as a public library; it is usually known
as the temple of Diana, a name for which no valid authority
exists. Evora is of little commercial importance, except as an
agricultural centre, but its neighbourhood is famous for its mules
and abounds in cork-woods; there are also mines of iron, copper,
and asbestos and marble quarries.
Under its original name of Ebora, the city was from 80 to 72 B.C. the headquarters of Sertorius, and it long remained an important Roman military station. It was called Liberalitas Juliae on account of certain municipal privileges bestowed on it by Julius Caesar (c. 100–44 B.C.). Its bishopric, founded in the 5th century, was raised to an archbishopric in the 16th. In 712 Evora was conquered by the Moors, who named it Jabura; and it was only retaken in 1166. From 1663 to 1665 it was held by the Spaniards. In 1832 Dom Miguel, retreating before Dom Pedro, took refuge in Evora; and here was signed the convention of Evora, by which he was banished. (See Portugal.)
The administrative district of Evora coincides with the central part of Alemtejo (q.v.); pop. (1900) 128,062; area, 2856 sq. m.
ÉVREUX, a town of north-western France, capital of the
department of Eure, 67 m. W.N.W. of Paris on the Western
railway to Cherbourg. Pop. (1906) town, 13,773; commune,
18,971. Situated in the pleasant valley of the Iton, arms of
which traverse it, the town, on the south, slopes up toward
the public gardens and the railway station. It is the seat of a
bishop, and its cathedral is one of the largest and finest in France.
Part of the lower portion of the nave dates from the 11th century;
the west façade with its two ungainly towers is, for the most part,
the work of the late Renaissance, and various styles of the
intervening period are represented in the rest of the church.
A thorough restoration was completed in 1896. The elaborate
north transept and portal are in the flamboyant Gothic; the choir,
the finest part of the interior, is in an earlier Gothic style.
Cardinal de la Balue, bishop of Évreux in the latter half of the
15th century, constructed the octagonal central tower, with its
elegant spire; to him is also due the Lady chapel, which is remarkable
for some finely preserved stained glass. Two rose windows
in the transepts and the carved wooden screens of the side chapels
are masterpieces of 16th-century workmanship. The episcopal
palace, a building of the 15th century, adjoins the south side
of the cathedral. An interesting belfry, facing the handsome
modern town hall, dates from the 15th century. The church of
St Taurin, in part Romanesque, has a choir of the 14th century
and other portions of later date; it contains the shrine of St
Taurin, a work of the 13th century. At Vieil Évreux, 312 m.
south-east of the town, the remains of a Roman theatre, a palace,
baths and an aqueduct have been discovered, as well as various
relics which are now deposited in the museum of Évreux. Évreux
is the seat of a prefect, a court of assizes, of tribunals of first
instance and commerce, a chamber of commerce and a board of
trade arbitrators, and has a branch of the Bank of France, a
lycée and training colleges for teachers. The making of ticking,
boots and shoes, agricultural implements and gas motors, and
metal-founding and bleaching are carried on.
Vieil-Évreux (Mediolanum Aulercorum) was the capital of the Gallic tribe of the Aulerci Eburovices and a flourishing city during the Gallo-Roman period. Its bishopric dates from the 4th century.
The first family of the counts of Évreux which is known was descended from an illegitimate son of Richard I., duke of Normandy, and became extinct in the male line with the death of Count William in 1118. The countship passed in right of Agnes, William’s sister, wife of Simon de Montfort-l’Amaury (d. 1087) to the house of the lords of Montfort-l’Amaury. Amaury III. of Montfort ceded it in 1200 to King Philip Augustus. Philip the Fair presented it (1307) to his brother Louis, for whose benefit Philip the Long raised the countship of Évreux into a peerage of France (1317). Philip of Évreux, son of Louis, became king of Navarre by his marriage with Jeanne, daughter of Louis the Headstrong (Hutin), and their son Charles the Bad and their grandson Charles the Noble were also kings of Navarre. The latter ceded his countships of Évreux, Champagne and Brie to King Charles VI. (1404). In 1427 the countship of Évreux was bestowed by King Charles VII. on Sir John Stuart of
