PERMANENCE OF TYPE. 779 



gone with their day and generation. The 

 noblest gifts are exceptional, and are rarely 

 inherited ; this very fact seems to me an evi- 

 dence of something more and higher than mere 

 evolution and transmission concerned in the 

 problem of life. In the same way the matter 

 of natural and sexual selection is susceptible 

 of very various interpretations. No doubt, on 

 the whole, Nature protects her best. But it 

 would not be difficult to bring together an 

 array of facts as striking as those produced 

 by the evolutionists in favor of their theory, 

 to show that sexual selection is by no means 

 always favorable to the elimination of the 

 chaff, and the preservation of the wheat. A 

 natural attraction, independent of strength or 

 beauty, is an unquestionable element in this 

 problem, and its action is seen among animals 

 as well as among- men. The fact that fine 



o 



progeny are not infrequently the offspring of 

 weak parents, and vice versa, points, perhaps, 

 to some innate power of redress by which the 

 caprices of choice are counterbalanced. But 

 there can be no doubt that types are as often 

 endangered as protected by the so-called law 

 of sexual selection." 



" As to the influence of climate and phys- 

 ical conditions," he continues, "we all know 



