Bibliographical Notice. 135 



fore, be infinite, so will, likewise, be the degrees of their pliability. 

 Hence, if it should have happened (whether from chance, or, which 

 is more probable, from actual selection, after experiment) that the 

 most plastic organisms have been operated upon, we cannot marvel 

 at the resuhs, however extraordinary. But that equal variations are 

 never brought about in creatures of a less flexible temperament, is 

 abundantly shown (by Mr. Darwin's own admission) in the case of such 

 animals as the cat, donkey,goose, peacock, guineafowl,&c., which appa- 

 rently, although so universally bred and domesticated, have not altered 

 in the slightest degree in the course of time. Mr. Darwin explains 

 this fact by supposing (p. 42) that the principle of selection has not 

 been brought to bear upon them. But, if selection, " vnconscious " 

 as well as " methodical," has been going on to the extent believed, 

 we cannot see why it should not also have silently acted, at any rate 

 to a certain extent, in such cases as these, no less than in the others. 

 To our mind the answer is plain : viz. that the species in question 

 are by nature unpliant (like the great mass of animals), and therefore 

 have not made any progress from their original starting-points. 



But let us admit, for the sake of argument, that man, as an active, 

 living agent, and therefore as an intelligent, efficient cause, capable of 

 directing his experiments, and bringing judgment, taste, energj^ and 

 intellect to bear upon them, possesses the power of altering, in the 

 course of time, the external features (even though they be usually 

 unimportant ones) of nearly all the organisms, animal and vegetable, 

 on which he may systematically operate : let us admit this (for we 

 do not wish to be unnecessarily sceptical) ; and then let us discuss the 

 question, whether there is any principle in nature analogous to this 

 selecting power of man ; for, if there is, why should not similar mo- 

 difications be produced even in the external world ? Mr. Darwin 

 believes that there is such a principle ; and his second chapter is 

 consequently devoted to what (as we have already stated) he calls 

 " Natural Selection." 



The rate at which all organisms would naturally multiply, if un- 

 opposed by external checks, is perfectly enormous. The elephant, 

 the slowest breeder of all known animals, would in oOO years, says 

 Mr. Darwin, produce fifteen million elephants, descended from a single 

 pair. There is no exception to the rule that every organic being 

 naturally increases at so high a rate that, if not destroyed, there 

 literally, in a few centuries, would not be standing-room on the earth 

 for its progeny ! Hence arises the certain fact that more individuals 

 must be destroyed annually than are born, and that therefore there 

 must be a constant warfare going on amongst living beings, and, as 

 a consequence, a general struggle for life : and in this battle it is 

 reasonable to suppose that the most gifted, or fully developed, indi- 

 vidual, each of its kind, would have the best chance of success and 

 (through having survived) of begetting offspring, — which offspring 

 would probably inherit, to some extent, the advantages of their 

 parents, and would in their turn increase these advantages, and give 

 birth to a still more highly gifted progeny ; and so on (it is urged) 

 to an unlimited extent. 



