76 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



using "Darwinism" 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: "The farther he went," wrote T. B. 

 Crozier, "the farther he departed from his early 

 belief in natural selection as the principal factor 

 in the evolution of species." 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 

 "origin of species" or the "descent of man." At 

 the best it might account for the elimination of 



* Fortnightly Review, Jan., 1914. 



