102 CRITICISMS ON &quot;THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES&quot; in 



deduction from the observed relations of organisms 

 to the conditions which lie around them, with a 

 metaphysical &quot; forme substantielle,&quot; or a chimerical 

 personification of the powers of Nature, would be 

 incredible, were it not that other passages of his 

 work leave no room for doubt upon the subject. 



&quot;On imagine une election naiurclle quo, pour plus cle manage 

 ment, on me dit etre inconscicnte, sans s apercevoir que le contrc- 

 sens litteral est precisement la : Election inconscicnte.&quot; (P. 52.) 



&quot; J ai deja dit ce qu il faut penser de Vtlection naturelle. Ou 

 Vtlcction naturelle n est rien, on c est la nature : mais la nature 

 douce $ election, mais la nature personnifiee : derniere erreur du 

 dernier siecle : Le xix ue fait plus de personnifications.&quot; (P. 

 53.) 



M. Flourens cannot imagine an unconscious 

 selection it is for him a contradiction in terms. 

 Did M. Flourens ever visit one of the prettiest 

 watering-places of &quot; la belle France,&quot; the Baie 

 d Arcachon ? If so, he will probably have passed 

 through the district of the Landes, and will have 

 had an opportunity of observing the formation of 

 &quot;dunes&quot; on a grand scale. What are these 

 &quot; dunes &quot; ? The winds and waves of the Bay of 

 Biscay have not much consciousness, and yet they 

 have with great care &quot; selected,&quot; from among an 

 infinity of masses of silex of all shapes and sizes, 

 which have been submitted to their action, all the 

 grains of sand below a certain size, and have 

 heaped them by themselves over a great area. 

 This sand has been &quot; unconsciously selected &quot; from 



