84 NO STRUGGLE NO SELECTION 



us with the best means of discovering the action of 

 the law of inheritance, I shall take the opportunity 

 of making a striking quotation from a celebrated 

 passage in the fourth chapter of the Origin of Species, 

 distinguishing for the sake of comment its several 

 parts by the letters a, b, c, and d. 



(a) " He (man) does not rigidly destroy all inferior 

 animals, but protects, during each varying season, as far 

 as lies in his power, all his productions, (b) He often 

 begins his selection by some half-monstrous form ; or 

 at least by some modification prominent enough to 

 catch the eye, or be plainly useful to him. (c) Under 

 Nature the slightest differences of structure, or con- 

 stitution, may well turn the nicely balanced scale in 

 the struggle for life and so be preserved, (d) How 

 fleeting are the wishes and the efforts of man ! how 

 short his time ! And consequently, how poor will be 

 his results, compared 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 ? " 



(a) Experience and observation unite to disprove 

 Nature's alleged destruction of her inferior animals. 

 (b) It is true that man selects for the formation of a 

 new breed some modifications, or individual variations, 

 which he thinks will be useful to him ; while, as we 

 shall see, it is true that Nature possesses no such 



