xx SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 273 



one direction, now in another, now in some low forms 

 of organised life and again in the highest. Further, 

 was this evolution exactly identical with progress even 

 while it lasted ? In the case of man, we shall assume 

 that it was ; was it equally so in the case of the shells ? 

 Progress means advance on one line ; evolution seems 

 to mean radiation in many directions. It may be 

 taken then as meaning differentiation ; or the gradual 

 filling out, by mechanical process, of a designed and 

 purposed scheme ; or the eliciting of all the possibilities 

 latent in " protoplasm " at the first. Of these conflict- 

 ing interpretations the first might suggest Spencer ; the 

 second, a Christian teleology; the third, Spinozistic 

 Pantheism. 



There seems no doubt that origin of species by 

 natural selection would imply variation, or differentia- 

 tion of race from race. Animal A preys upon animal B, 

 and threatens to exterminate it. Several specimens 

 of B may deal with the difficulty in several distinct 

 fashions. The swift B will run away from A and 

 make its escape. The cunning B will hide itself from 

 A and elude notice. The strong B will stand up to 

 A manfully, and, after a few struggles, will teach A 

 to seek his prey by preference among less warlike 

 creatures. There is no one means of survival in 

 the struggle ; there are several. At any time, for 

 any species, there are innumerable possible advantages. 

 Candidates for nature's examination can and do 

 specialise. It seems, therefore, that fitnesses are pro- 

 duced, but fitnesses of manifold types. Progressive 

 improvement (given constancy of environment) every- 

 where results, but it results upon different lines, and 

 the clearest outcome of the process is the transition 

 from the monotony of a few types to an almost infinite 



T 



