590 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



^dodging' all changes in their environment, after a 

 given form had been attained. 



Mr. Darwin, however, expressly states that he is not 

 an advocate of ''progressive development.' He says^: — 

 ' On our theory the continued existence of lowly organ- 

 isms offers no difficulty ; for Natural Selection, or the 

 survival of the fittest, does not necessarily include pro- 

 gressive development — it only takes advantage of such 

 variations as arise, and are beneficial to each creature 

 under its complex relations of life. And it may be 

 asked. What advantage^ so far as we can see, would it 

 be to an infusorian animalcule, to an intestinal worm, 

 or even to an earth worm, to be highly organized ? If 

 it were no advantage, thcss forms would be left by 

 Natural Selection unimproved or but little improved, 

 and might remain for indefinite ages in their present 

 little advanced condition.' 



In certain other respects, however, Mr. Darwin's 

 views are much more in accordance with the views of 

 those who believe in the existence of an internal prin- 

 ciple or tendency leading to progressive complexity of 

 development. He thinks, for instance, in opposition to 

 Mr. Spencer, that where change is brought about in any 

 organism by the incidence of new conditions, the nature 

 of the organism itself — that is, the peculiar qualities 

 or modes of action which go on in it — are of much 

 more importance in determining the result than the 

 ^ ' Origin of Species,' 5th ed., p. 145. 



