Evolutionism and Darwinism. 63 



or survival of the fittest, in the struggle for exist 

 ence. 



See, now, the result. As, man forms domestic 

 races by selecting and preserving through succes 

 sive generations those individuals whose peculiar 

 modifications are useful or pleasing to Mm, so, in 

 the struggle for life, individuals with modifications 

 useful to themselves are preserved, while their less- 

 favored rivals are killed out ; and in transmitting 

 to their offspring the peculiarities which enabled 

 them to survive, they begin the formation of a 

 distinct variety, which, in the lapse of geological 

 ages, may emerge as a new species. Man forms ^ &amp;gt; 

 species through selective breeding, the result of 

 his own choice ; nature forms species from that 

 selective breeding which is the necessary conse 

 quence of the extermination of rivals and sur 

 vival of the fittest in the struggle for existence. 



This, then, is Darwin s theory of the origin of 

 species. Assuming that species were not special 

 creations, fixed and immutable, Darwin shows 

 how all the species of any one genus have been 

 developed from a single stock by means of natu 

 ral selection, or survival of the fittest, in the strug 

 gle for life. The horse, the ass, the quagga, and 

 the zebra are not originally distinct species, but 

 descendants of a common ancestor, modified 



