30 THE SURVIVAL OP THE UNLIKE. [j 



agency of natural selection, it is because they were im- 

 pressed upon the organization by some unaccountable 

 agency; or, if there is simply a falling away from ac- 

 cumulated characters, the residuary or secondary features 

 which appear are probably the compound and often 

 deteriorated result of various previous incident forces. 

 In short, panmixia is a name for a class of phenomena, 

 and it cannot be considered as itself an original cause of 

 variation. It is, to my mind, largely the unrestrained 

 expression or unfolding of the growth -force consequent 

 upon the removal of the pressure under which the plant 

 has lived. 



III. 



Thp Survival of the TJnJihc 



The one note of the modern evolution speculations 

 which has resounded to the remotest corner of civiliza- 

 tion and which is the chief exponent of current specu- 

 lation respecting the origin and destiny of the organic 

 world, is Spencer's phrase, "the survival of the fittest." 

 This epigram is an epitome of Darwin's law of natural 

 selection, or "the preservation, during the battle for life, 

 of varieties w^hich possess any advantage in .structure, 

 constitution or instinct." In most writings, these two 

 phrases — "natural selection" and "the survival of the 

 fittest " — are used synonymously; but in their etymology 

 they really stand to each other in the relation of process 

 and result. The operation of natural selection results in 

 the survival of the fittest. One must not be too exact, 

 however, in the literal application of such summary ex- 

 pressions as these. Their particular mission is to afford 



