i AN IMPOSING PHRASE 3 



which does actually survive. But the 

 special power of it lies in this, that it 

 sounds as if it expressed a true physical 

 cause. It gets rid of that detestable refer- 

 ence to the analogies of mind which are 

 inseparably associated with the phrase of 

 natural selection. It is the great object 

 of all true science as some think to 

 eliminate these analogies, and if possible 

 to abolish them. Survival of the fittest 

 seems to tell us not only of that which is, 

 but of that which must be. It breathes 

 the very air of necessity and of demon- 

 stration. Among the influences which 

 have tended to popularise the Darwinian 

 hypothesis, and to give it the imposing 

 air of a complete and satisfactory ex- 

 planation of all phenomena, it may well be 

 doubted whether anything has been more 

 powerful than the wide acceptance of 

 this simple formula of expression. 



Such is the authority who some 



