128 SYMBIOGENESIS 



is well put by Samuel Butler (Luck or Cunning), speaking of 

 the views of Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck : 



They held that some organisms show more ready wit and savoir faire 

 than others ; that some give more proofs of genius and have more 

 frequent happy thoughts than others, and that some have even gone 

 through waters of misery which they have used as wells. The sheet 

 anchor both of Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck is in good sense and 

 thrift ; still they are aware that money has been sometimes made by 

 "striking oil" and ere now been transmitted to descendants in spite 

 of the haphazard way in which it was originally acquired. No specu- 

 lation, no commerce; "nothing venture, nothing have" is as true for 

 the development of organic wealth as for that of any other kind, and 

 neither Erasmus Darwin nor Lamarck hesitated about admitting that 

 highly picturesque and romantic incidents of developmental venture 

 do from time to time occur in the race-histories even of the dullest and 

 most dead-level organisms under the name of ' ' sports ' ' ; but they 

 would hold that even these occur most often and most happily to those 

 that have persevered in well-doing for some generations. 



How the favour of new though apparently adverse circum- 

 stances may in reality induce recoveries through the forced 

 adoption of new habits, I have instanced in my Evolution by 

 Co-operation by the case of Dcndrocygna Autumnalis, This 

 duck when compelled by circumstances to feed upon seeds and 

 grain, instead of animal life, becomes so relatively light and 

 active that " it can alight on a stalk of growing corn with the 

 ease of a blackbird, and it is quite at home among the lofty 

 trees where it makes its nest." 



In a similar way the children of Israel were led away from 

 the fleshpots of Egypt into the desert, there to feed on 

 "manna" and thus to rejuvenate the race. No organism, of 

 course, is stronger than race. None can deny race. Everyone 

 has to bear the burden of race as well as inherit its advantages. 

 Racial " honour," however, may be measured by bio-economic 

 standards, which involve loyalty to the cosmos and its order. 

 With these qualifications we will accept Prof. Thomson's 

 further statement that " heredity is no entity, no force, no 

 principle, but a convenient term for the genetic relation 

 between successive generations, and inheritance includes all 



