biology

Ronald Campbell Macfie

Ronald Campbell Macfie is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ronald Campbell Macfie rather than just read about it. In short: Ronald Campbell Macfie (1867–1931) was a Scottish medical doctor, poet and science writer specialising in eugenics and evolution. Macfie was a critic of Darwinism and developed his own non-Darwinian evolution theory which was a form of neovitalism.

Key takeaways

Ronald Campbell Macfie belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ronald Campbell Macfie to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ronald Campbell Macfie from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ronald Campbell Macfie (1867–1931) was a Scottish medical doctor, poet and science writer specialising in eugenics and evolution. Macfie was a critic of Darwinism and developed his own non-Darwinian evolution theory which was a form of neovitalism. He believed that chance played no role in evolution and that evolution was directed. Macfie was also a panpsychist as he believed mind was to be found in all matter.

Biography He was a Scottish physician and writer. He had qualified in medicine in Aberdeen in 1897 and specialised in the treatment of tuberculosis. He was also a Liberal Member of British Parliament mentioned in The Bookman Treasury of Living Poets (4th edition 1931) as a contributor to such works as Fairy Tales for Old and Young (1909), and The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry (1940). Among his works are "Man’s Record in the Rocks" (My Magazine, May 1921) The Art of Keeping Well Cassell & Co. 1918/The Vegetarian Society and Evolutionary Consequences of War (cited below). Campbell Macfie suggested that male war deaths (during World War I) would create a surplus of fertile women, thus reducing the overall birthrate whilst the surviving men would select partners from a wide range of 'surplus' females according to eugenically (sexually) attractive characteristics. He averred that:

Nature has wisely arranged that men should be attracted (to women) by characteristics that imply a superior capacity for motherhood... (thus)...every war will do something to set up evolutionary tendencies opposite to its own, brutal, truculent, anti-social spirit.

Books published The Romance of Medicine (1907) Air and Health (1909) Science, Matter, and Immortality (1909) The Titanic: (An Ode of Immortality) (1912) Heredity, Evolution, and Vitalism (1912) The Romance of the Human Body (1919) War: an Ode and Other Poems (1920) Sunshine and Health (1927) The Faiths and Heresies of a Poet and Scientist (1932) The Theology of Evolution (1933)

See also Lady Margaret Sackville Baby Boom Flora Thompson

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ronald Campbell Macfie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ronald Campbell Macfie claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ronald Campbell Macfie before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ronald Campbell Macfie ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ronald Campbell Macfie

In research: Ronald Campbell Macfie appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ronald Campbell Macfie in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ronald Campbell Macfie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1867 births, 1931 deaths, 19th-century Scottish medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ronald Campbell Macfie outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Ronald Campbell Macfie” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Ronald Campbell Macfie in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ronald Campbell Macfie means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ronald Campbell Macfie out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ronald Campbell Macfie in simple terms?

Why does Ronald Campbell Macfie matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ronald Campbell Macfie?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ronald Campbell Macfie.