68 DISCRIMINATIONS CHAP. 



article is to assert and insist upon a 

 wide distinction between the " natural 

 selection " theory of Darwin and the 

 general theory of what Mr. Spencer 

 calls " organic evolution." He insists 

 and reiterates that even if Darwin's 

 special theory of natural selection were 

 disproved and abandoned, the more 

 general doctrine of organic evolution 

 would remain unshaken. I entirely 

 agree in this discrimination between 

 two quite separate conceptions. But I 

 must demand a farther advance on the 

 same lines an advance which Mr. 

 Spencer has not made, and which does 

 not appear to have occurred to him as 

 required. Not only is Darwin's special 

 theory of natural selection quite separ- 

 able from the more general theory of 

 organic evolution, but also Mr. Spencer's 

 own special version and understanding 

 of organic evolution is quite separable 



