DARWINISM 151 



with the origin of the changes, which give rise to new languages, 

 animals and plants, and does not act as " means " in the pro- 

 cess. 



The conception of Evolution was impressed upon Darwin's 

 mind by his numerous observations made during his voyage 

 round the world ; but his theory of Natural vSelection as afford- 

 ing the means, for the Origin of Species was suggested by 

 Mai thus' Essay upon the Principle of Population (1798). "It 

 is the doctrine of Malthus applied with manifold force to the 

 whole animal and vegetable kingdoms."^ Darwin, however, 

 introduced an element which Malthus had nothing to do with, 

 namely, variatiofts in the structure of organisms. 



According to Malthus, population tends to increase by 

 geometrical progression, while the quantity of the means of 

 subsistence is more or less in accordance with an arithmetical 

 one. It is not clear on what grounds this is based. Man 

 being an organism like other animals, he and they as well as 

 plants must follow the same laws ; and taking wheat as an 

 important food, it certainly increases by very high geometrical 

 ratios : they may be thirty- sixty- or a hundred-fold. His 

 theory might be true in a limited area, and when no foreign 

 supply of food is accessible. 



Moreover, as populations increase, more of Nature's waste 

 lands can be brought under cultivation, as we are now doing 

 in Egypt, and doubtless shall do in South Africa by irrigation. 



But the question of the Evolution of Species is not solely 

 concerned with the fact that more animals and plants are born 

 annually than the world can provide for, so that many fnust 

 die or the world would be overstocked. This would be the 

 sole matter for consideration, if offspring were always like 

 their parents ; but Malthus did not consider, and Darwin had 

 no grounds for inserting in his theory, anything to do with new 

 points of structure in the offspring of organisms. It is upon 

 these alone that varieties and species are based. 



Hence, Darwin's theory of " the Origin of Species by 



1 Origin of Species, 6th ed., p. 50. 



