General Objections to Natural Selection 359 



causes in bringing about the modifications, whether in the 

 Lamarckian sense or in the Darwinian sense. It may be 

 worth while to consider the alternative possibility. It is 

 just as true to say, for example, that the diverging types 

 of animals live in a manner and in habitats to which they 

 are adapted by the special or peculiar forms, connections, 

 sizes, locations of their various organs. 



Neither Lamarck nor Darwin attempted to account for 

 the origin of fit variations nor for the adaptiveness of the 

 individual to changed conditions. Darwin assumed merely 

 that some of the many variations possible would be more 

 valuable than others. And Lamarck assumed as an ultimate 

 fact the tendency of living things to respond suitably to the 

 environment. At the present time, we have to accept adap- 

 tiveness as an ultimate character of living matter. 



General Objections to Natural Selection 



If existing forms of plants and animals have come about 

 as a result of natural selection acting through untold ages, 

 there ought to be greater stability or constancy in living 

 things rather than variability. 



The doctrine of natural selection does not account for 

 the reduction of unused organs, for the degeneration of 

 the eyes of cave animals, and so on. Species differ from each 

 other in more than one detail, and the theory would require 

 the simtdtaneous appearance of numerous variations and 

 their joint preservation by heredity after the action of nat- 

 ural selection. The struggle for existence which leads to 

 the survival of one set of characters in a given situation 

 would leave others to be swamped by the interbreeding of 

 unselected individuals. It is difficult further to understand 

 the appearance of correlated variations which are necessary 

 for the effectiveness of special organs, especially in higher 

 animals. For example, a stronger muscle to be of value must 

 have correspondingly larger areas of attachment on the 

 bones; and a stronger muscle might be a source of harm if 



