32 SPECIES NOT 



side of the question, and assume that the ninety- 

 nine were not pure forms, but those that had been 

 subject to variation were, then the law becomes 

 at once a constant, not an intermittent quantity; 

 and no one, I presume, will contend that there 

 is a natural law of variation acting uniformly 

 and constantly in living organisms! Of course 

 such a law, did it exist, would destroy all per- 

 manence and stability in species, and the various 

 forms of life would be merely transitional, and 

 constantly passing from I was going to say 

 one form to another; but this would be absolute 

 nonsense, for without permanence and speciality 

 there could be no typical being to classify, and 

 the whole race of living things plants and 

 animals, would be merely the various expressions 

 of the phases of the same thing. 



But Mr. Darwin does not claim a general and 

 constant law of variation. He attempts to arrive 

 at the same conclusions to which such a law 

 must evidently lead us, by other means. Accord- 

 ing to his theory, a variation takes place some 

 time in the history of the creature. This variation 

 leads step by step to altered form, structure, 

 and habit; but he does not say this results 

 from an inherent principle in the animal or 

 plant alone. The external agencies are what 

 he terms the ''struggle for existence," giving to 

 such a varied form a condition superior to others 

 of its class, and therefore ultimately causing 

 their extinction and its permanent position in 

 the scale. In addition to this struggle he creates 



