The Origin of the New 377 



Theoretical objections to the idea of evolution by nat- 

 ural selection of the minute fluctuating variations continued 

 to accumulate. The Russian naturalist Sergius Korchinsky 

 objected to the idea of the struggle for existence as part of the 

 evolution concept because adverse conditions of life, he 

 thought, would tend to stabilize forms and prevent the ap- 

 pearance of new departures, thus hindering evolution. In 

 society, when conditions of life are difficult and when com- 

 petition is severe, there is no opportunity for the establishment 

 of new ideas. There is no chance at all for the unconventional. 



We do not know how far Korchinsky was influenced 

 in his views of the struggle for existence by his own social 

 theories and by his revolt against the political and economic 

 complacency of the Russian aristocracy. It is interesting, 

 however, to find that Luther Burbank, less given to specula- 

 tion and with a radically different background, came to 

 similar conclusions, although to entirely different applica- 

 tions. Burbank sought for desirable variations only where 

 his trial plantings furnished the most favorable condition for 

 growth and development. Only under such conditions, he 

 felt, could all the native potentialities of a strain or breed 

 show themselves, and yield something worth saving for the 

 establishment of new strains. Here again we cannot tell how 

 far Burbank was influenced in his views by his own humane 

 sentiments, but both he and Korchinsky agreed in considering 

 favorable living conditions essential for the appearance of 

 new variations. 



Burbank, having built his own success upon the rigorous 

 selection of ** favored " individuals and the ruthless destruc- 

 tion of millions, had implicit faith in the principle of 

 selection. Korchinsky, on the contrary, rejected the theory 

 because it required conditions which he felt to be hostile to 

 spontaneous departures from conventional types and to the 

 preservation of novelties. Korchinsky also presupposed an 

 inner tendency in living things toward higher specializa- 

 tion, a perfecting principle. His emphasis, however, was 

 upon the origin of new forms by heterogenesis, that is, by 



