Essays on Life 



the more lofty shrubs, and constantly stretch- 

 ing its neck for this purpose, but because any 

 varieties which occurred among its antitypes 

 with a longer neck than usual at once secured 

 a fresh range of pasture over the same ground 

 as their shorter-necked companions, and on 

 the first scarcity of food were thus enabled 

 to outlive them." 1 



" Which occurred " is evidently " which 

 happened to occur " by some chance or acci- 

 dent unconnected with use and disuse. The 

 word " accident " is never used, but Mr. 

 Wallace must be credited with this instance 

 of a desire to give his readers a chance of 

 perceiving that according to his distinctive 

 feature evolution is an affair of luck, rather 

 than of cunning. Whether his readers actu- 

 ally did understand this as clearly as Mr. 

 Wallace doubtless desired that they should, 

 and whether greater development at this point 

 would not have helped them to fuller appre- 

 hension, we need not now inquire. What 

 was gained in distinctness might have been 



1 Journals of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Zoology, 

 vol. iii.), 1859, p. 61. 



258 



