140 TIME AND LIFE 



with good reason believed that turnspits and greyhounds, 

 carrier and tumbler pigeons, have arisen. 



But there was a link wanting to complete the parallel. 

 "Where in nature was the analogue of the breeder to be 

 found ? How could that operation of selection, which is 

 his essential function, be carried out by mere natural 

 agencies ? Lamarck did not value this problem ; neither 

 did he admit his impotence to solve it ; but he guessed a 

 solution. Now, guessing in science is a very hazardous pro- 

 ceeding, and Lamarck's reputation has suffered woefully for 

 the absurdities into which his baseless suppositions led him. 



Lamarck's conjectures, equipped with a new hat and 

 stick, as Sir Walter Scott was wont to say of an old story 

 renovated, formed the foundation of the biological specu- 

 lations of the Vestiges, a work which has done more harm 

 to the progress of sound thought on these matters than 

 any that could be named ; and, indeed, I mention it here 

 simply for the purpose of denying that it has anything in 

 common with what essentially characterises Mr. Darwin's 

 work. 



The peculiar feature of the latter is, in fact, that it 

 professes to tell us what in nature takes the place of the 

 breeder ; what it is that favours the development of one 

 variety into which a species may run, and checks that of 

 another ; and, finally, shows how this natural selection, as 

 it is termed, may be the physical cause of the production 

 of species by modification. 



That which takes the place of the breeder and selector 

 in nature is Death. In a most remarkable chapter, On 

 the Struggle for Existence, Mr. Darwin draws attention 

 to the marvellous destruction of life which is constantly 

 going on in nature. For every species of living thing, as 

 for man, " Eine Bresche ist ein jeder Tag." Every species 

 has its enemies ; every species has to compete with others 

 for the necessaries of existence ; the weakest goes to the 

 wall, and death is the penalty inflicted on all laggards 

 and stragglers. Every variety to which a species may give 

 rise is either worse or better adapted to surrounding cir- 

 cumstances than its parent. If worse, it cannot maintain 

 itself against death, and speedily vanishes again. But if 

 better adapted, it must, sooner or later, " improve " its 

 progenitor from the face of the earth, and take its place. 

 If circumstances change, the victor will be similarly sup- 

 planted by its own progeny ; and thus, by the operation 



