LAMARCK AND MR. DARWIN. 265 



of sharp practice. New precedents would thus arise, 

 so that the law would shift with time and circum- 

 stances; but the law would not otherwise direct the 

 channels into which life would flow, than as laws, 

 whether natural or artificial, have affected the de- 

 velopment of the widely differing trades and profes- 

 sions among mankind. These have had their origin 

 rather in the needs and experiences of mankind than in 

 any laws. 



To put much the same as the above in different 

 words. Assume that small favourable variations are 

 preserved more commonly, in proportion to their num- 

 bers, than is perhaps the case, and assume that con- 

 siderable variations occur more rarely than they pro- 

 bably do occur, how account for any variation at all ? 

 " Natural selection " cannot create the smallest variation 

 unless it acts through perception of its mode of operation, 

 recognised inarticulately, but none the less clearly, by 

 the creature varying. " Natural selection " operates on 

 what it finds, and not on what it has made. Animals 

 that have been wise and lucky live longer and breed 

 more than others less wise and lucky. Assuredly. The 

 wise and lucky animals transmit their wisdom and luck. 

 Assuredly. They add to their powers, and diverge into 

 widely different directions. Assuredly. What is the 

 cause of this ? Surely the fact that they were capable 

 of feeling needs, and that they differed in their needs and 

 manner of gratifying them, and that they continued 

 to live in successive generations, rather than the fact 

 that when lucky and wise they thrived and bred more 

 descendants. This last is an accessory hardly less im- 



