DARWINISM 97 



with other fruit-bearing plants, in tempting the birds to 

 devour and thus disseminate its seeds. In these several 

 senses, which pass into each other, I use for convenience 

 sake the general term of Struggle for Existence." 



5. Survival of the Fittest. In this struggle for existence 

 only those best suited to their environment will survive. 

 The dandelion from the seed that germinates first secures 

 the best light; the one that sends down the longest and 

 most vigorous root-system, that produces the largest, most 

 rapidly growing leaves will survive, and will tend to trans- 

 mit its vigorous qualities to its progeny. Less vigorous 

 or less "fit" individuals perish. To this phenomenon 

 Herbert Spencer applied the phrase, "survival of the fit- 

 test." Darwin called it "natural selection," because it 

 was analogous to the artificial selection of favored types 

 by breeders of plants and animals. It will be readily seen, 

 however, that the process in nature is not so much a selec- 

 tion of the fittest, as a rejection of the unfit; the unfit are 

 eliminated, while the fit survive. It has been suggested 

 that "natural rejection" would be a better name than 

 "natural selection." "Variations neither useful nor in- 

 jurious," said Darwin, "would not be affected by natural 

 selection." 



78. Difficulties and Objections. The publication of 

 Darwin's "Origin of Species" aroused at once a storm of 

 opposition. Theologians opposed the theory because they 

 thought it eliminated God. Especially bitter antagonism 

 was aroused by Darwin's suggestion that, by means of 

 his theory "much light will be thrown on the origin of 

 man and his history." The unthinking and the careless 

 thinkers accused Darwin of teaching that man is descended 

 from monkeys. Neither of these accusations, however, 



