140 THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 



that these acquired variations will keep the indi- 

 viduals in harmony with their environment, and 

 preserve them under new conditions, until some con- 

 genital variation happens to appear of a proper 

 adaptive character." 37 



We thus see that it is claimed for organic selection 

 that it gives an explanation of definite variation. 

 Prof. Osborn says ' ' Heredity slowly adapts itself 

 to the needs of a race in a new environment along 

 lines anticipated by individual adaptation, and there- 

 fore along definite and determinate lines." This 

 may be true, but these definite lines must be useful 

 ones, and must be initiated by the action of external 

 conditions. Organic selection merely preserves 

 incipient useful variations, however they may arise. 

 It is merely a form of natural selection , and , like it , 

 has nothing to do with the origin of variations. It 

 is quite incapable of explaining the origin or preser- 

 vation of useless characters, and it is these which 

 especially require the action of definite variation for 

 their preservation. 



Natural Selection. This preserves beneficial 

 variations by eliminating the inferior individuals. 

 It has only one motive or agent through which the 

 variations are preserved, and this is utility. So 

 that all characters which are not useful, either to 

 the bearer or to some ancestor of the bearer, have 

 not been preserved by natural selection. 



Three objections have been made to natural selec- 



37 This, and the preceding quotations, are taken from 

 Prof. Baldwin's "Development and Evolution," 1902. I 

 have not seen the originals. 



