III. THE MATERIAL VEHICLES OE Till': 

 HEREDITARY CHARACTERS. 



§ 9. DARWIN'S PANGENESIS. 



The real meaning of the title of Darwin'.s book. 

 On tJic Origin of Species by Means of Natural Sclecfion, 

 has often been largely misapprehended. In Darwin's 

 mind the emphasis lay on the word "natural." He pleaded 

 a natural origin of species against the accepted super- 

 natural one. The whole object of his work was to show 

 that the genetic relationships of animals and plants may 

 be explained without invoking supernatural causes, and 

 that their explanation by natural means is far more satis- 

 factory and simple. For this conviction lie succeeded 

 in obtaining general credence, and thus laid a broad foun- 

 dation for all future investigation in this spliere. 



The modern tendency, however, is to sliift the cm- 

 l^hasis on tlie word selection and on the analogy between 

 selection in nature and the artificial production of races 

 in agriculture. In doing so it is often overlooked that 

 half a centurv acio the science of the various forms of 

 varia1)ility, and consequently of selection, was still in its 

 infancy, and that we must not apply our present knowl- 

 edge to the state of opinions which prevailed then. X-i 

 distinction Avas drawn at that time, for instance, between 

 mutability and variability; and il was Darwin who first 



