DARWINISM 147 



viduals for the selective process?" . . . "Something is still 

 wanting to the selection of Darwin and Wallace."^ 



Prof. Cope said — " The survival of the fittest does not 

 explain the origin of species until we explain ' the origin of 

 the fittest?'" Asa Gray assumed that the variations must be 

 " led along certain beneficial lines ".- 



Dr. G. Fk. Wright observes : " The difficult question for 

 those who deny any purposive element at the bottom of 

 organic evolution is how to secure the complicated co-ordina- 

 tion of results involved in the development of any decidedly 

 advantageous anatomical variations"."^ 



Now the following is Darwin's alternative process : " By 

 the term ' Definite Action ' I mean that when many individuals 

 of the same variety are exposed to any change in their physical 

 conditions of life, all or nearly all the individuals are modified 

 in the same manner. A new sub-variety would thus be pro- 

 duced without the aid of Natural Selection." * 



Many observers soon discovered that the evidence of " de- 

 finite action " was abundant. It was ultimately seen that such 

 represented a Natural Law, viz., that the organism responded 

 directly to the environment, and so grew up in harmony with it, 

 all the offspring of any species thus varying alike in adaptation. 

 None died through want of it. 



It may be added that it is perfectly true that " the struggle 

 for life," "natural selection" and the " survival of the fittest" 

 occur everywhere in Nature. These things, however, are con- 

 cerned with the Distribution of organisms. They account for 

 the presence or absence of species in any given area ; but they 

 have nothing to do with their origins, as these are based on 

 structure alone. 



It is a common mistake to suppose that Natural Selection 

 is still required even if il be admitted that plants and animals 

 can grow in response to the environment ; so that all the 



^ Monist, 1896, pp. 261, 263, 264. "^ Darwiniana. 



^Scientific Aspects of Christian Evidences, p. 94. 



* Animals and Plants under Domestication, ii., p. 271. 



