SELECTION 139< 



genetic adaptation ( = modification) is of a very pro- 

 found character. It enables animals and plants to> 

 survive very critical changes in their environment. 

 Thus all the individuals of a race are similarly 

 modified over such long periods of time that, very 

 gradually, congenital or phylogenetic variations,, 

 which happen to coincide with the ontogenetic 

 adaptive variations, are selected and become phylo- 

 genetic. Thus there would result an apparent but 

 not real transmission of acquired characters." He 

 gives the following illustration. " If the human 

 infant were brought up in the branches of a tree as 

 an arboreal type, instead of a terrestrial, bi-pedal 

 type, there is little doubt that some of the well- 

 known early adaptations to arboreal habit (such as 

 the turning of the soles of the feet and the grasping 

 of the hands) 36 might be retained and cultivated ; 

 thus a profoundly different type of man would be 

 produced." 



Professor Baldwin gave this process the name of 

 Organic Selection, and thus defines it. " The pro- 

 cess of individual accommodation (= adaptation) 

 considered as keeping single organisms alive, and so, 

 by also securing the accumulation of variations, de- 

 termining of evolution in subsequent generations." 

 Prof. Poulton says " Organic selection is the power 

 of the individual to play a certain part in the struggle 

 for life, and may constantly give a definite trend and 

 direction to evolution." Prof. H. W. Conn says, 

 ' The essence of the theory of organic selection is 



36 These are vestigial characters and not modifications. 

 F. W. H. 



