NATURAL SELECTION 77 



of evolution having been instrumental in developing 

 higher from lower forms. When, moreover, it is borne 

 in mind that every operation of Nature is in a sense 

 (though not in a Darwinian sense) an act of Natural 

 Selection, it will be easy for his readers to discover 

 that Dr. Romanes' elaborate dialectic when he 

 endeavours to make Natural Selection Nature's agent 

 is rather a manipulation of pedantic language than a 

 dealing with the actual processes of evolution. 



Darwin speaks of individual variations that possess 

 the faculty of lying latent for many, perhaps for hundreds 

 of generations. I am not sure whether he means these to 

 be considered evolutional factors ; for, if he means this, 

 I find myself unable to assign them any fitting place 

 in his scheme of Natural Selection. It is, however, 

 possible that he has introduced those extraordinary 

 variations merely to impress his readers with the 

 general independence of individual variations and their 

 freedom from subjection to the law of inheritance. 



I now proceed to deal with the significance in 

 organic life of individual variations or differences. 



In the second paragraph of chap. ii. Darwin writes : 

 " No one supposes that all the individuals of the 

 same species are cast in the same actual mould. These 

 individual differences are of the highest importance for 

 us, for they are often inherited, as must be familiar to 

 everyone ; and they thus afford materials for Natural 

 Selection to act on and accumulate in the same manner 

 as man accumulates in any given direction individual 

 differences in his domesticated productions." 



