100 CRITICISMS ON &quot; THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES &quot; m 



niitted, nothing stops him : he plays with Nature as he likes, 

 and makes her do all he pleases.&quot; (P. 6.) 



And this is the way M. Flourens extinguishes 

 natural selection : 



&quot; Voyonsdonc encore une fois, ce qu il peut y avoir de fonde&quot; 

 dans ce qu on nomnie ilcction naturellc. 



&quot; L election naturellc n est sous un autre nom que la nature. 

 Pour un etre organise, la nature n est que 1 organisation, ni plus 

 ni moins. 



&quot;II faudra done aussi personnifier V organisation, et dire que 

 T organisation choisit T organisation. Selection naturclle est 

 cette forme substanticlle dont on jouait autrefois avec tant de 

 facilite. Aristote disait que Si 1 art de batir etait dans le bois, 

 cet art agirait comme la nature. A la place de I art de bdtir 

 M. Darwin met I election naturellc, et c est tout un : Tun n est 

 pas plus chimerique que 1 autre.&quot; (P. 31.) 



And this is really all that M. Flourens can make 

 of Natural Selection. We have given the original, 

 in fear lest a translation should be regarded as a 

 travesty ; but with the original before the reader, 

 we may try to analyse the passage. &quot;For an 

 organised being, Nature is only organisation, 

 neither more nor less.&quot; 



Organised beings then have absolutely no 

 relation to inorganic nature : a plant does not 

 depend on soil or sunshine, climate, depth in the 

 ocean, height above it; the quantity of saline 

 matters in water have no influence upon animal 

 life ; the substitution of carbonic acid for oxygen 

 in our atmosphere would hurt nobody ! That 

 these are absurdities no one should know better 



