1893 ON SELF-ADAPTATION 361 



question. It simply refers the facts of adaptation 

 immediately to some theory of design, and so brings 

 us back again to Paley, Bell, and Chalmers. As 

 when a child asks why a flower closes at night, 

 and we answer him : Because God has made it 

 so, my dear. C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la 

 science. 



But do not mistake me. My quarrel is with the 

 term self-adaptation, which seems to imply causes of 

 a non-naturalistic kind. Which, of course, is quite a 

 different thing from doubting whether the natural- 

 istic explanation given by Darwin is adequate to 

 meet all the facts. I am myself more and more 

 given to question ' the all-sufficiency of natural 

 selection,' and this, whether or not use-inheritance 

 is one of the supplementary factors. But that 

 there are some hitherto undiscovered factors of 

 this kind where many of the phenomena of adap- 

 tation are concerned, I am more and more disposed 

 to suspect. Nevertheless I believe, in the light of 

 analogy, that they will all prove to be natural 

 causes, and therefore not correctly definable as 

 due to ' self-adaptation.' 



My hemiplegia has given me a terrible shake, so 

 I cannot write much. Indeed, this is the longest of 

 the few letters which I have written since my attack. 

 So please excuse seeming bluntness, and believe me 

 to remain, 



Ever yours, very truly and most interestedly, 



GEO. J. ROMANES. 



P.S, Of course you would not in any case expect 



