NEOLAMARCKISM. ."ise NEO-PLATONISM. Cope first (1871) fiirnisliid whal he considered as "an actual denmnstration of the ruality of llic Lamarckian factor of use, or motion, as fric- tion, impact, and sti'ain. as an efficient cause of evolution." A. S. Packard ( 1871) , by his studies of the enibryoloj;y of Linnilus, and of cave ani- mals, was led to ado|)l Lamarckian views in preference to the theory of natural selection, which never seemed to him adequate or suffi- ciently comprehensive to explain the origin of variations and the rise of new types; and it was lie who orifrinated the term Xco-lamorckixni. 'Neo-lamarckism," he explained, "gathers nii and makes use of the factors both of the Saint -Hilaire and Lamarckian schools, as containing the more fundamental cau.ses of variation, and adds those of geographical isolation or segregation (Wagner and Gulick), the ell'ects of gravity, the efTects of currents of air and of water, of fi.xed or seden- tary as opposed to active modes of life, the results of strains and impacts (Ryder, Cope, and Oshorn), the princijde of change of function as inducing the formation of new structures (Dohrn), the efTects of parasitism, commensal- ism, and of symbiosis — in short, the biological environment; together with geological extinction, natural and sexual selection, and hybridity." Among American zoijlogisls wfto have advo- cated Lamarckian views are V. IL Dall, J. A. Allen, R. T. .Tackson, C. II. Eigcnmann. and others; in England. Spencer. Heiislow. Cunning- ham, Gadow, and others; in France. Ciard, PerrieT; and in Germany and Holland, llaeckel, Wagner. Einier. St.indfuss. Fischer. Plate, PfctVer. O. llcrtwig. Kmery, Roux, and others. NEOLITH'IC MAN (from Gk. viot, neos, new + WSos, lillios, stone). The term applied by European arclueologisls to the races in a supposed geological period when the polishing of stone, agriculture, pottery, weaving, domestica- tion of animals, and the consl ruction of pile dwellings on lakesides in Switzerland. France, Italy, and Ireland, the burying of the dead in dolmens, and the rearing of megalithic monu- ments, were practiced. mS'ON (Gk. vdv, neu. sg. of f^os, twos, new ) . A gaseous element obtained from the atmosphere by William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers in ISilg. It resembles helium, and. like other members of its group, has among its characteristic features a disinclination to unite with other elements. Neon is separated from the atmo.spliere in the same way as krypton. Its atomic weight is given bv Ramsay and Travers as 19.!)4. NE'OPHYTE ( I'r. mopln/tr. from Lat. iiru- pliillii^. iruiii (;k. feixpi'To^. from i-^os. iicos. new -f 0i'7-o!, jilnilos. grown, from tpvftf. /j/ii/ci'ii. to grow). The name given in I'arly ecclesiastical language to persons recently converted to Chris- tianity. The word is used in this sense by Saint Paul, an<l is explained by Saint Gregory the Great as an allusion to 'their being newly planted in the faith.' It dill'ered from catechumen (q.v.). inasnuich as it su|)posed the person to have not only embraced the doctrines of the Church, but also (o have received baptism. Saint Paul, in the passage referred to. directs Timothy not to pro- mote a neophyte to the episcopate; and this pro- hibition was generally maintained, although occasionally disregarded in extraordinary cir- cumstances, such as those of Saint Ambro.se (q.v.). The duratiuu of this exclusion was left for a time to the discretion of bishops; but sev- eral of the ancient synods legislated regarding it. In the modern Roman Catholic Church the same discipline is observed, and extends to per-sons converted not alone from heathenism, but from any sect of Christians se))arated from the com- nuniiun of Rome. The time, however, is left to be determined by circumstances. NEO-PLA'TONISM. The name applied to the teachings, ]iriiiiarily of the Greece- Alex- andrian school of philosophy, and later of a number of Italian humanists, as well as some Knglishmen. The extension of the Roman Em- ]iire and the growing intercourse between differ- ent parts of the world gave rise to an eclectic tendency which combined features of various systems. The process of anuilgamation .showed itself most prominently at .Mexandria, whose central position made it a meeting-place for the chief religions and philosophies of the ancient world. Such a phiUisopliy. therefore. as that ])ronmlgated by the eo-lMalunists, combining the peculiar mental cliaractcristics of the East and the West, naturally originated there, though it soon ceased to have any local connection. Tile term Neo-Platonism is sometimes loosely used to signify the whole new intellectu;il move- ment proceeding from Alexandria, and attempts have been made to include among its exponents some of the Clnistian Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria and ( )rigen ; but the name is more properly applied to the school of Ammonius Saccas "(q.v.) an<l his followers. Plotinus (q.v.), a pupil of Ammonius, was its most important champion. Porphyrins. lanibliclius. and Proclus (qq.v. ) represent a continuous decline in philo- sophic interest, and a greater and greater ten dency to wild and fantastic religious syncretism. In connnon with Xco I'ytliagoreanism and the .Jud;co- Alexandrian philoso]>hy represented by Philo. the teaching of this school is characterized liy a dualistic oppositicm of the divine and the earthly, an abstract conception of God which ex- cludes all knowledge of the divine essence, a con- tem))t for the world of sense «hich rests on the Platonic doctrines of matter and of the descent of souls into bodies, the supposition of mediating forms which carry over the divine operations into the world of jihenomeiia. the demand for an
- iscetic liberation from a life of sense, and a
faith in a higher revelation obtained in ecstasy. Xotwithstanding the assumjition that these doc- trines were deductions from the teachings of Plato, the school brought the whole of philo- sophical .science under a new systematic form. In their view, the basis of the divine nature is unity, the One; from this as the primordial source of all things emanates 'pure intelligence'; and from this, in turn, emanates the 'soul of the world.' whose creative activity produces other lesser .souls, of men and animals. The doctrine of the divine immanence in this aximn niiinrii was one of the most marked (loints in later Neo- Platonism, and led very close to pantheism. One of the last Neo-Platonists of antiquity was Boe- thius (q.v.), who by his continued popularity became the most inlluential medium for the trans- mission, during the oarlv Middle .Ages, of Greek philosophy to Western Eirope. The fifteenth century witnessed a strong re- vival of interest in these speculations. Nicholas of Cusa (q.v.) and other mystics seek to over-
