DARWIN. 85 



Every selected character is fully exercised by her ; and 

 the being is placed under well-suited conditions of life. 

 . . . Under nature, the slightest difference of structure or 

 constitution may well turn the nicely-balanced scale in 

 the struggle for life, and so be preserved. How fleeting 

 are the wishes and efforts of man ! how short his time ! 

 and consequently how poor will his products be, com- 

 pared with those accumulated by nature during whole 

 geological periods. Can we wonder, then, that nature's 

 productions should be far ' truer' in character than man's 

 productions ; that they should be infinitely better adapted 

 to the most complex conditions of life, and should plainly 

 bear the stamp of far higher workmanship ? " The words 

 in italics certainly are a good answer to those who think 

 Darwin had any tendency to depreciate the marvels of 

 nature by bringing them under the law of natural selec- 

 tion. But we shall gain further light on this subject later 

 on. 



The main argument may be summed up thus : if vari- 

 ations beneficial to any creature occur, which cannot be 

 doubted, the individuals in whom they occur will have 

 the best chance of surviving and transmitting their quali- 

 ties to their offspring. This natural selection will tend to 

 produce divergence of character among offspring, and to 

 intensify differences until they equal those between species 

 or even genera. The same tendency to improvement 

 brings about the decay and ultimate extinction of many 

 lower and unimproved forms of life. 



One of the best examples of Darwin's style is in the 

 passage comparing all members of the same class of 

 beings to a great tree. " I believe this simile largely 



