THE DARWINIAN THEORY 13 



Natural Selection appears to be the only theory 

 at present in the field, which can be said to give 

 at all a satisfactory explanation, by means of 

 natural causes, of the origin of adaptations, 

 which once formed the basis of Paley's famous 

 argument from Design. Sir William Thiselton- 

 Dyer has said on this point: "The thought of 

 each age is the foundation of that which follows. 

 Darwin was an admirer of Paley, a member of 

 his own college. He swept in the whole of Paley's 

 teleology, simply dispensing with its supernatural 

 explanation." 



Teleology is the doctrine that everything in 

 Nature serves some end; applied to living things 

 it is identical with the idea of adaptation. We 

 must remember, however, that the end served, 

 according to Darwinian doctrine, is always the 

 benefit of the creature itself, whether animal or 

 plant, not the benefit of man. The two things, 

 it is true, often work together, for man himself 

 determines, to a considerable extent, what shall 

 survive and what shall perish. Wheat, for ex- 

 ample, from a few scattered localities in the East, 

 has overspread a great part of the world, to the 

 exclusion of most of the wild Flora, simply be- 

 cause it has become the food of man. To be of 

 use to man is now about the best asset in the 

 struggle for existence to countless plants and 

 animals. 



