8o DISCRIMINATIONS CHAP 



transmission. By this process, pro- 

 longed through ages of unknown dura- 

 tion, he thought it was possible to 

 account for the origin of the millions 

 of different specific forms which now 

 constitute the organic world. For this 

 theory, as we all know, Darwin adopted 

 the phrase Natural Selection. It was 

 an admirable phrase for giving a certain 

 plausibility and vogue to a theory full 

 of weaknesses not readily detected. It 

 spread over the confused and disjointed 

 bones of a loose conception the ample 

 folds of a metaphor taken from wholly 

 different and even alien spheres of ex- 

 perience and of thought. It resorted 

 to the old, old Lucretian expedient of 

 personifying Nature, and lending the 

 glamour of that Personification to the 

 agency of bare mechanical necessity, 

 and to the coincidences of mere fortuity. 

 Selection means choice by a living 



