The Evolution of Organisms 163 



nate elimination does not count for much in nat- 

 ure's methods. We see the men in the fields thin- 

 ning or singling turnips. With rapid strokes of 

 the hoe they kill nine and leave a tenth, giving it 

 elbow room, and liberating it from too intense 

 competition. But they do not pause to select out 

 the most vigorous young turnip plant; this would 

 be discriminate selection, which we are familiar 

 with in the more intensive cultivation of the garden. 

 On the whole, the process of thinning turnips is in- 

 discriminate elimination, though, of course, one 

 knows that the survivors are left at regular distances, 

 and so fortL The point is that while this thinning 

 is profitable for the surviving individuals, it does 

 not directly help the race, it does not make for the 

 evolution of superior turnips. So it is in Nature's 

 thinning and singling; it is only consistent discrim- 

 inate elimination that counts for much. 



One hundred and thirty-six English sparrows 

 in America were worsted by a severe storm and 

 were brought benumbed into a laboratory. Sev- 

 enty-two revived, sixty-four perished. Professor 

 Bumpus made a careful comparison of the elim- 

 inated and the survivors with the result of showing 

 that the birds which perished because of the storm 

 were deficient as regards certain qualities in which 

 those that survived were stronger. In other words, 

 this storm, at least, was an agent in discriminate 

 elimination. 



