WALLA CE ON "DARWINISM." 77 



lace, that all which is here claimed is now almost universally admitted, while the 

 criticisms of Darwin's works refer almost exclusively to those numerous ques- 

 tions which, as he himself says, will long remain obscure. 



Mr. Wallace then proceeds to explain precisely what is meant 

 by natural selection, and what, therefore, the Darwinian theory 

 really is : 



The theory of natural selection rests on two main classes of facts, which 

 apply to all organized beings without exception, and which thus take rank as 

 fundamental principles or laws. The first is the power of rapid multiplication in 

 a geometrical progression ; the second, that the offspring always vary slightly from 

 the parents, though generally very closely resembling them. From the first fact 

 or law there follows, necessarily, a constant struggle for existence; because, 

 while the offspring always exceed the parents in number, generally to an enor- 

 mous extent, yet the total number of living organisms in the world does not, and 

 can not, increase year by year. Consequently, every year, on the average, as 

 many die as are born, plants as well as animals ; and the majority die premature 

 deaths. They kill each other in a thousand different ways; they starve each 

 other by some consuming the food that others want ; they are destroyed largely 

 by the powers of nature — by cold and heat, by rain and storm, by flood and fire. 

 There is thus a perpetual struggle among them which shall live and which shall 

 die ; and this struggle is tremendously severe, because so few can possibly remain 

 alive — one in five, one in ten, often only one in a hundred or one in a thousand. 



Then comes the question, Why do some live rather than others ? If all the 

 individuals of each species were exactly alike in every respect, we could only say 

 it is a matter of chance. But they are not alike. We find that they vary in 

 many different ways. Some are stronger, some swifter, some hardier in constitu- 

 tion, some more cunning. An obscure color may render concealment more easy 

 for some, keener sight may enable others to discover prey or escape from an 

 enemy better than their fellows. Among plants the smallest differences may be 

 useful or the reverse. The earliest and strongest shoots may escape the slug ; 

 their greater vigor may enable them to flower and seed earlier in a wet autumn ; 

 plants best armed with spines or hairs may escape being devoured ; those whose 

 flowers are most conspicuous may be soonest fertilized by insects. We can not 

 doubt that, on the whole, any beneficial variation will give the possessors of it a 

 greater probability of living through the tremendous ordeal they have to undergo. 

 There may be something left to chance, but on the whole the fittest will survive* 



Upon this statement of what " Darwinism " is, coming to ns as 

 it does from the highest authority, certain observations suggest 

 themselves. 



In the first place, objection may be taken to the phrase, the 

 fittest will survive. The phrase, if I am not mistaken, was not 

 originally devised by Mr. Darwin, and seems open to criticism. 

 For fitness implies something of moral superiority ; you can not 

 measure it in respect of length, or breadth, or strength, or any 

 other quality capable of being tested by strictly physical condi- 

 tions. Moreover, there is some danger of being betrayed by the 



* Pages 10, 11. 



