CHAPTER IV. 



DARWINISM ATTACKED (CONTINUED): THE 

 THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION (CON- 

 TINUED). 



CERTAIN objections urged by various authors may be said 



to concern themselves more with the character of the varia- 



Objection based tions themselves and the possibilities of their 



on the linear and accum ulation by selection, than with the manner 



quantitative and 



non-qualitative of their occurrence. For example, de Vries * 

 tnatTnTval flUC ' denies the species-forming capacity of Dar- 

 tions. winian selection of Darwinian (fluctuating) 



variation, on the ground that these variations are only 

 "linear," and thus cannot afford a basis for the creation of 

 new forms. Already existing bodies, organs, and parts 

 can be enlarged or made smaller, made smoother or rougher, 

 made bluer or less blue, greener or less green, that is de- 

 veloped plus-ward or minus-ward, but by this nothing really 

 -.new is created. But, declares de Vries, the differentiation 

 of organs consists, taken by and large, in the development 

 of actually new characteristics ; therefore in such material as 

 that presented by the linear variations of Darwin, selection 

 cannot have the necessary basis for this production of new 

 characteristics. 



Gustav Wolff 2 reiterates the same objection in his declara- 

 tion that while the theory of natural selection may get on 

 decently well when modifications embodying only quan- 

 titative changes in parts or organs are concerned, it is com- 

 pletely at a loss to account for modifications or adaptations 

 requiring as basis qualitative changes. Even the warmest 



