14 METHODS OF EVOLUTION [CHAP. 



full development) to exist at all in the unborn 

 infant 1 * These, like all other inborn and 

 hereditary structures, have to be accounted for 

 in any question of evolution. For it is on 

 structures alone upon which species are founded. 

 All "acquired characters" seem to be recog- 

 nised by Neo - Darwinians as beside this all- 

 important question. I may here say at once 

 that I regard all structures, hereditary or not, 

 as having been primarily acquired. 



To explain how this "power of acquiring fit 

 modifications in response to appropriate stimula- 

 tion " arose, Mr Reid says it 



"provides a short cut by means of which 

 qualities, too numerous to be evolved and 

 maintained as inborn traits by Natural Selec- 

 tion (owing to the immense mortality which 

 would be involved) are evoked at need. . . . 

 The chief aim (if we may use the expression) 

 of Natural Selection has been to evolve it." 1 



No proofs are given to substantiate this 

 statement, and when we recall Darwin's warn- 

 ing that natural selection is only a metaphor to 

 express the fact that many die and few survive 

 under the struggle for existence, 2 one wonders 

 how any "power" can be evolved by it. 



I am only concerned with the question as 

 to the hereditary character of structures, as these 

 I repeat alone are concerned in the estimation 



1 Op cit., p. 35. 2 " Origin," etc., 6th ed., p. 63. 



