156 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



obtains, it is mainly during the early period of life and long 

 de/ore the principal specific or generic characters are formed 

 at all. 



We come then to the question, Why do some seedlings 

 survive and others do not when they struggle together? It 

 appears simply to be due to a more vigorous constitution. 

 Assuming an entire absence of all mechanical injuries or of 

 parasites, etc., and that a batch of seeds are all equally healthy, 

 there are seemingly but two causes for a relatively less vigorous 

 constitution. One, when the embryo has been accidentally less 

 provided with reserve food materials in the seed. The second 

 is, where there happens to be less external available nourish- 

 ment or something prejudicial in its environment superadded. 



Here, then, we may recognise a true basis for Natural Selec- 

 tion ; and so limit it to its legitimate sphere of action. 



But it has nothing to do with the origin of morphological 

 structures, upon which specific characters are based. 



It has been said : " If we ask for the actual observations of 

 the process of Natural Selection on which the Darwinian theory 

 is based, we find what appear to be very slender foundations of 

 fact for a very large superstructure. There are the experiences 

 of the breeder, and very little more. The real data which 

 support the weight of the theory consist in the nature of the 

 actual products which the process is assumed to explain — the 

 actual constitution of animal and vegetable species in their 

 higher and lower forms." ^ 



In other words, assume Darwinism to be true, then, every- 

 thing follows ; just as all a priori assumptions satisfy the 

 thinkers, that they have the exact clue, cause and interpreta- 

 tion of any problems in question. 



I had not intended writing anything more on Darwin's 



' Stout's Manual of Psychology, p. 17. I would here refer the reader 

 to my reply to Dr. Wallace's criticisms, entitled, "The Origin of Species 

 without the Aid of Natural Selection," Natural Science, vol. v., p. 257, 

 1894 ; and also to " Does Natural Selection play any part in the Origin of 

 Species of Plants ? " Natural Science, vol. xi., p. 166. 



