THE METHOD OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 417 



iu tlic numerous species iu wliicli to be eaten by birds would be injurious 

 instead of beneficial. 



But if we be,i;iu at the same stage and apply the Darwinian theory, 

 we find that the whole process is easy of explanation. It is au observed 

 fact that fruits vary in softness, juiciness, and color, and seeds in the 

 hardness or hairiness of their integuments. Any variation of primitive 

 fruits in either of these directions would therefore be beneficial, by 

 attracting birds to eat them and so disperse the seeds that they might 

 reach suitable stations for development and growth. Such favora- 

 ble variations would therefore be preserved while the less favorable 

 perished. 



Now, ask the same questions as to the production of the innumerable 

 modes of dispersal of seeds by tlie wind, from the sim])Ie compressed 

 form and dilated margins of many small seeds to the winged seeds of 

 the ash and njaple, and the wonderful feathery parachute of the thistle 

 and the dandelion. Or again, inquire as to the wonderful springed 

 fruits which burst so as to scatter the small seeds, as in some of the bal- 

 sams; or yet again, as to the sticky glands of the sundews, and the 

 small water traps of the bladder wort; and a hundred other equally 

 strange adaptations to some purpose of use to the species, but whose 

 development has no relation whatever to any possible direct action of 

 the environment, though all of them are exjilicable as the result of the 

 successive i)reservation of such variations as are known to occur, act- 

 ing at various intervals, and by means of successive modifications, dur- 

 ing tiie whole |)eriod of the development of the grou}) from some remote 

 ancestral form. 



The modern advocates of Lamarckism content themselves with such 

 simple cases as the strengthening or enlarging of organs by use, the 

 hardening of the sole of the foot by pressure, or the enlarging of the 

 stomach by the necessity for eating large quantities of less nutritious 

 food. These, and many other similar modifications, may doubtless be 

 exi^lained by the direct action of conditions, if we admit that the change 

 thus produced in the individual is transmitted to the offspring. That 

 such changes are transmitted has, however, not yet been proved, and a 

 considerable body of naturalists reject such transmission as im})robable 

 in itself, and at all events as not to be assumed without full and suffi- 

 cient proof. But even if accepted it will not help us to explain the 

 very great number of iuq)ortant adaptations which, like those already 

 refierred to, are quite unrelated to any direct action of the environment. 

 Having thus cleared away some preliminary misconceptions, and stated 

 in briefest outline the main features of the law of natural selection, we 

 may proceed to consider the objections of those modern writers to whose 

 works we have already referred. 



Mr. Bateson's large and important volume consists mainly of au 

 extensive collection of cases of variation of a ])articular kind, which 

 have been met with throughout the whole animal kingdom, and have 

 SM 94 27 



