WALLACE ON "DARWINISM." 81 



tinctive of human faculties. Here the problem is just the reverse 

 of that which occurred in the case of mathematics : in that the 

 favorable variation to be preserved is rare, in this the variation 

 scarcely exists ; the faculty of speech is universal ; how, then, can 

 there be a survival of the fittest where all are equally fit ? 



It seems difficult to resist this kind of argument, and I should 

 not be surprised to find the opinion gain ground, and ultimately 

 become established, that while the human faculties have undoubt- 

 edly been developed gradually, the development can not in any 

 way be traced to the process of natural selection. 



But if it be once admitted that the principle of natural selec- 

 tion is inadequate to explain the development of specially human 

 qualities, there is a temptation to go back to the consideration of 

 the powers and instincts of some of the inferior creatures, and to 

 inquire whether natural selection may not be inadequate also in 

 their case, as in that of man. I confess that I have never been 

 able to perceive how the principle can be brought to bear upon 

 such phenomena as the architecture of insects — for example, that 

 of bees and wasps. What, I suppose, ought to have happened is 

 this, that some variation of an ancient form of bee made a rough 

 approximation to a modern honeycomb, that they who made the 

 best honeycomb were the fittest to survive, and that in this way 

 by slow degrees and by natural selection a race of bees was pro- 

 duced capable of performing the geometrical wonders which mod- 

 ern bees perform. But there are two difficulties : First, in con- 

 ceiving the original start of insects in the direction of architect- 

 ure ; and, secondly, in perceiving the connection between good 

 architects and survival in the struggle for life. Certain bees 

 might make their wax go further than other bees, and our actual 

 bees use their wax with absolutely mathematical economy ; but it 

 is difficult to perceive how this economy is helpful in the struggle 

 for life. Can we get over these difficulties ? If it were a case of 

 some device for self-preservation, the conclusion might be differ- 

 ent. For example, if we can imagine some variation of a race of 

 spiders devising, in ever so rough a form, those curious houses 

 which have attained such perfection in the hands of the trap-door 

 spider, we can also easily believe that this variation would be 

 likely to survive, and that while less ingenious spiders became 

 the prey of their enemies, those which were concealed in their 

 cunning castles would escape. But there is nothing parallel to 

 this in the case of wasps and bees ; here we have a beautiful geo- 

 metrical problem somehow solved, apparently without connection 

 between the solution and the preservation of life. One of two 

 conclusions seem inevitable — either the geometrical skill has be- 

 longed in its perfection to bees and wasps ever since those insects 

 existed ; or else the geometrical skill has been developed by some 



VOL. XXXVII. — 6 



