vin DARWINISM AND DESIGN 149 



his theory. Did he, as was to be expected from so 

 exceptionally cautious an inquirer, subject himself to this 

 preliminary investigation ? He did nothing of the sort. 

 He simply pointed to the known variety of variations as 

 approximately illustrative of his conception of indefinite 

 variation, and went ahead. I can find nothing more 

 formal than a request l that the endless number of slight 

 variations and individual differences occurring in our 

 domestic productions, and in a lesser degree in those 

 under nature, be borne in mind. In other words, he did 

 not attempt to prove the existence of indefinite variation 

 in its literal sense ; he took it for granted for the methodo 

 logical reasons aforesaid. Was it wrong to do this ? 

 Not unless science is deprived of the right of making 

 methodological assumptions. And the practical justifica 

 tion of Darwin s procedure is seen in the fact that his 

 theory has in the ripeness of time provided a guiding 

 thread and an impetus to the study of facts that might 

 otherwise long have eluded the grasp of science. 



VI. That the facts of Organic Evolution really play 

 a very small part in producing the speculative bearing 

 of Darwinism will appear also if we inquire into the 

 reason of its anti-teleological action as commonly under 

 stood. 



For it turns out that the destructive action of 

 Darwinism is a by-product of the theory which lurked 

 in the innocent-looking phrase, indefinite variation. 



We have seen that, as a method of investigating the 

 facts, that phrase is thoroughly defensible ; but then in that 

 shape it does not really touch the question of teleology at 

 all. For if the variations are only called indefinite in order 

 to determine the working of Natural Selection, then the 

 possibility of their purposive occurrence is not thereby 

 excluded. 



On the other hand, let us take the phrase as a 

 description of an actual fact. If there are an indefinite 

 number of variations, and if they tend in an indefinite 

 number of directions, it follows that the variations in any 



1 Origin of Species, \. p. 97. 



