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CHAPTER III 



Darwin and Natural Selection 



The idea of natural selection a vital factor in the triumph of 

 the transmutation theory. — Natural and artificial selection. — 

 The multiplication of living things and the struggle for life. 

 — Divergence of character. — The direct influence of environ- 

 ment. — Objections answered. — Natural selection a decisive 

 argument in favor of transmutation. 



THE-cIear and plausible explanation, based , on 

 evident facts, which Darwin had~~giYen^of the 

 transformation of species, settled the dispute in his 

 favour. The idea of evolution could no longer be 

 considered as a mere hypothesis, but became a deduc- 

 tion drawn from observation. The whole Darwinian 

 doctrine with its main tenet, evolution, and its second- 

 ary, subordinate tenet concerning the process of e vo- 

 lution, found acceptance among scientists. What 

 made the fight so bitter was the fact that it was waged 

 not about the latter idea, but about the great funda- 

 mental idea of evolution, fraught with innumerable 

 theoretical and practical consequences. 



iWho cared about the processus by which species 

 was descended from species so long as the descent was 

 natural and did not presuppose any miraculous inter- 



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