From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



to give any advantage, and if in the definitive 

 constitution of the animal, ontogenetic 1 adaptation 

 plays the greatest part, this adaptation will be pro- 

 duced both in the individuals possessing the inborn 

 variation in question and in those devoid of it. 



Would then the premium due to general variation 

 suffice to ensure survival of the one at the expense 

 of the other ? Most probably not, for, were it 

 otherwise, that variation alone would have sufficed.' 



To this theory a still more definite objection may be 

 made: even admitting that the original variation might 

 be reinforced and doubled, or even tripled, it will none 

 the less be a very small variation. It will therefore never 

 explain the appearance of certain forms of life, such as 

 the bird form. An embryo wing, even exuberant in 

 type, would none the less be unusable, giving no 

 superiority to the ancestral reptile. 



Indeed this theory of organic selection adds nothing 

 to the Lamarckian doctrine which we will now examine. 



According to this doctrine it is adaptation to new 

 conditions that brings about the formation of new species. 

 The origin of the creative modification is not due to 

 chance, but to need. The ultimate development of new 

 and characteristic organs comes by the repeated use of 

 these organs, and their atrophy by disuse. 



Thus a series of adaptations produces a corresponding 

 series of minor variations, at first very small, but cumula- 

 tive till they produce major transformations. 



The Lamarckian theory has been adopted by the 

 great majority of contemporary naturalists, who endeavour 

 to reduce all transformism to the influence of the 

 environment. 



The systems of Cope 2 and Packard 3 in America, 



1 Ontogenetic. Gr. rd. 6vra, existing things ; ytvevu, generation; 

 individual development as distinguished from genealogical development. 



* Cope : The Primary Factor of Organic Evolution. 



* Packard : Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution; His Life and Work. 



II 



