178 THE GROWTH OF GROUPS 



environment and a secular change takes place, the devia- 

 tions from the mode destroyed giving the requisite 

 material." In much the same manner we may summarize 

 our objection to the theory by considering the effect of 

 circumstances upon a stable race as follows. During the 

 time that the race is stable it is always overshadowed by 

 the possibility of a serious change of circumstance. The 

 change may be in any direction, that is to say, the first 

 new circumstance that comes upon the race is merely 

 one of an unlimited number which might have come 

 upon it. Consequently, unless the race is to become 

 extinct it must include amongst its deviations an unlimited 

 number of different kinds of such deviations and pre- 

 sumably more than a few individuals of each kind, but 

 how can a race, a finite number of living things, contain 

 such a profusion of deviations ? 



The selection theory was put forward chiefly to explain 

 the adaptation of living things to their surroundings. 

 It therefore rests on the assumption that an explanation 

 of some kind is necessary. It was put forward as an 

 alternative to the older explanation. If Anthropo- 

 morphism had never entered the mind of man, some of 

 Darwin's teaching would have been meaningless. The 

 selection theory therefore differs from many other 

 scientific theories which are built upon new ground of 

 fresh material provided by observation. The theory of 

 the earth's rotundity does not depend upon the previous 

 supposition that the earth was flat. But the selection 

 theory depends upon a pre-existing theory, it borrows 

 the idea that adaptation is a thing needing explanation. 



Anthropomorphism in its simplest form must be of 

 great antiquity. There must have been a moment long 





