162 NATURAL SELECTION vn 



ment is, however, more plausible. The uncertainty of opinion 

 among naturalists as to which are species and which varieties, 

 is one of Mr. Darwin's very strong arguments that these two 

 names cannot belong to things quite distinct in nature and 

 origin. The reviewer says that this argument is of no weight, 

 because the works of man present exactly the same phenomena ; 

 and he instances patent inventions, and the excessive difficulty 

 of determining whether they are new or old. I accept the 

 analogy, though it is a very imperfect one, and maintain that, 

 such as it is, it is all in favour of Mr. Darwin's views. For 

 are not all inventions of the same kind directly affiliated to a 

 common ancestor ? Are not improved steam-engines or clocks 

 the lineal descendants of some existing steam-engine or clock 1 

 Is there ever a new creation in art or science any more than 

 in nature 1 Did ever patentee absolutely originate any 

 complete and entire invention, no portion of which was 

 derived from anything that had been made or described 

 before 1 It is therefore clear that the difficulty of distin- 

 guishing the various classes of inventions which claim to be 

 new, is of the same nature as the difficulty of distinguish- 

 ing varieties and species, because neither are absolutely new 

 creations, but both are alike descendants of pre-existing forms, 

 from which and from each other they differ by varying and 

 often imperceptible degrees. It appears, then, that however 

 plausible this writer's objections may seem, whenever he 

 descends from generalities to any specific statement, his 

 supposed difficulties turn out to be in reality strongly con- 

 firmatory of Mr. Darwin's view. 



The TIMES on Natural Selection 



The extraordinary misconception of the whole subject by 

 popular writers and reviewers is well shown by an article 

 which appeared in the Times newspaper on "The Reign of 

 Law." Alluding to the supposed economy of nature, in the 

 adaptation of each species to its own place and its special use, 

 the reviewer remarks : " To this universal law of the greatest 

 economy, the law of natural selection stands in direct 

 antagonism as the law of greatest possible waste ' of time 

 and of creative power. To conceive a duck with webbed feet 

 and a spoon-shaped bill, living by suction, to pass naturally 



