Terminology 119 



novelty in terms is better than ambiguity in meanings. 

 And in each case the new term is intended to mark off an 

 exact meaning which no current term seems to express. 

 Taking these terms in turn and attempting to define 

 them, as they are used here, it will be seen whether in 

 each case the special term is justified ; if not, the writer 

 will be ready to abandon it. 



Organic Selection: The process of individual accommo- 

 dation considered as keeping single organisms alive, and 

 so, by also securing the accumulation of variations, deter- 

 mining evolution in subsequent generations. 



Organic selection is, therefore, a general principle of 

 evolution which is a direct substitute for Lamarckian 

 heredity in most, if not in all, instances. If it is really 

 a new factor, then it deserves a new name, however con- 

 tracted its sphere of application may finally turn out to be. 

 The use of the word 'organic' in the phrase was sug- 

 gested by the fact that the organism itself cooperates in 

 the formation of the modifications which are effected, and 

 also from the fact that, in the results, the organism is 

 itself selected, since those organisms which do not secure 

 the modifications fall by the principle of natural selection. 

 The word ' selection ' used in the phrase is appropriate for 

 the reason that survival in the sense of the Darwinian 

 meaning of * selection ' is here also denoted.^ 



Social Heredity : The acquisition of functions from the 

 social environment, also considered as a method of deter- 

 mining evolution. It is a form of organic selection, but 

 it deserves a special name because of its special way 

 of operating. It influences the direction of evolution 



iThe term 'organic selection' was first used in the work, Mental Develop- 

 ment, ist ed., April, 1895. (See the notes on pp. 94 and 96.) 



