22 MAN AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



taining the principle of evolution. From this view- 

 point the operations of " natural selection" are passive 

 rather than active ; are portrayed in terms of both 

 environment and species, rather than in terms of 

 species alone. 



Mechanisms of Adaptation 



In the first delight of finding a rich display of 

 beautiful and ingenious mechanisms for the pres- 

 ervation of life in plants and animals, we are prone 

 to overestimate the " marvelous efficacy" of these 

 contrivances, and to ignore the presence of many 

 imperfect and involved mechanisms, which make life 

 precarious for the average organism. For example, 

 what a vast amount of superfluous energy has appar- 

 ently been wasted in making the long-distance arrange- 

 ments for fertilization in certain plants, which first 

 produce flowers and then the nectar by which to attract 

 insects on the chance that they may brush against 

 the pollen and carry it to another flower ! How crude 

 are some of the mechanisms in human bodies - 

 the twenty or more feet of intestines, which give har- 

 borage to poisonous germs and gases ; the appendix 

 vermiformiSj and various other cumbersome arrange- 

 ments, which the surgeon is daily called upon to 

 remedy ! 



The fact is that the present form of man is the result 

 of an inconceivably long and tedious process of addition 

 and subtraction, of grafting character upon character in 

 somewhat the same haphazard fashion as in certain 

 mountains in South America stones are thrown by the 

 wayfarer upon a lone Indian grave. Some land sc- 



