76 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



using &quot;Darwinism&quot; as synonymous with material 

 istic evolution. Typical of the changed attitude 

 towards real Darwinism, at this time, was the 

 change that took place in the mind of Huxley 

 himself: &quot;The farther he went,&quot; wrote T. B. 

 Crozier, &quot;the farther he departed from his early 

 belief in natural selection as the principal factor 

 in the evolution of species.&quot; 3 



Darwin held that in the so-called struggle for 

 existence some species could more readily main 

 tain themselves than others. Their favorable 

 characteristics were then accentuated through con 

 stant transmission in successive generations. The 

 less capable varieties succumbed. 



Under a momentary spell of enthusiasm this 

 theory was extended to almost every department 

 of science and became a commonplace of litera 

 ture. Materialistically interpreted, it postulated 

 no plan governing this natural selection. And 

 yet the necessity of such plan, even in his own 

 hypothesis, constantly reasserted itself in Dar 

 win s mind. The theory of sexual selection was 

 added merely as a particular phase of his gen 

 eral doctrine. 



All that need here to be said of the principle 

 enunciated by Darwin is that it was wholly in 

 adequate for the purpose of explaining either the 

 &quot;origin of species&quot; or the &quot;descent of man.&quot; At 

 the best it might account for the elimination of 



8 Fortnightly Review, Jan., 1914. 



