Correttjwmfrun' irlth Charles Darmn 171 



of tlie patent and the latent elements selection took place, so that not only 

 are the somatic elements u selection of all possible somatic elementa of 

 an individual of the same ancestry, hut the latent elements or germ-phwm 

 were themselves a selection. This selection he termed 'class representation.' 

 That the somatic or bodily characters are a selection is, of course, obvious ; 

 that the germ -pliusm is selected also is extremely pr(ihul)le, hut less easily de- 

 monstrated. Gulton represented to himself tlio 'structureless elements as a 

 vast congeries of individual elements — like balls of a great variety of colours 

 in a bag. A selection is made of these ('class representation') for the 

 embryonic elements which by development become the adult elements, the 

 somatic chaiuctei-s ; that is the simple explanation of variation in the somatic 

 characters of individuals of the same ancestry and reared under the same 

 environment. Another selection from the stime bag gives the germ-plasm of 

 the individual on which his gametic characters depend, i.e. the po-ssibilities 

 of his descendants. Thus the continuity of the 'latent elements' or as we 

 might say of the germ-plasm was in CJalton's mind broken by continual 

 selection. The 'class re|)resentation' of the somatic chai-actere giving the 

 phenomenon of visible variation, and the 'class representation' of the germ- 

 plasm the variation of stocks or stirjis. 



Galton did not in this paj)er, I do not think he ever did, carry out his 

 hypotheses to their legitimate conclusions. In the first place the two selec- 

 tions from our 'bag' cannot l)e treated as wholly inflependent; the .somatic 

 characters are not |)erfectly correlated with the gametic characters, but they 

 are correlated with them, antl as we descend to highly specialise<l nices 

 highly correlated with them. It would not I)e unreasonable to suppose that 

 the somatic characteis arise from a sub-selection of the gametic group, or 

 from leaving a portion of this drawing 'on the table.' But the selection of 

 the germ-plixsm must lead to its simpler and simpler structure, especially in 

 the cjuse of unisexual reproduction. The coui-so of evolutit)n must on this 

 hypothesis stai't with a highly complex germ-plasm and tend to brejik this 

 up into simpler and simpler groups as generation by generation more elements 

 are difleientiated, i.e. organism dirters frt)m organism by having fewer and 

 fewer common latent elements. We should see genera breaking up into s|)ecies, 

 sj)ecies into local races, and ultimately races into stirps and j)ossibly stirps 

 into the merely ideal 'pine lines,' or organisms in the case of which it would 

 be impossible to carry germ-plasm selection further for it wouhl have be- 

 come of one type oidy; the innumerable balls of immense variety in our bag 

 would have been reduced to a single colour! 



Darwin's natural selection acts only on evolution through the definite 

 correlation of somatic and gametic characters. Galton's germinal selection, a 

 random selection at the output of each new individual, must — if there be 

 isolation — tend to produce species, races and sub-races. A pure race could 

 only be one in which all latent elements were so substantially represented 

 that there was little chance of a 'class representation' excluding any of 

 them'. This is not the place to discuss at length the bearing of Galton's 



' Purity of race might also be preserved by much intra-racial crossinjk' 



