122 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



that natural selection induces variability, whereas it im- 

 plies only the pre'servation of such variations as arise 

 and are beneficial to the being under its conditions of 

 life. No one objects to agriculturists speaking of the 

 potent effects of man's selection; and in this case the in- 

 dividual differences given by nature, which man for some 

 objects selects, must of necessity first occur. Others have 

 objected that the term selection implies conscious choice 

 in the animals which become modified; and it has even 

 been urged that, as plants have no volition, natural se- 

 lection is not applicable to them I In the literal sense 

 of the word, no doubt, natural selection is a false term; 

 but who ever objected to chemists speaking of the elec- 

 tive affinities of the various elements ? — and yet an acid 

 cannot strictly be said to elect the base with which it 

 in preference combines. It has been said that I speak 

 of natural selection as an active power or Deity; but 

 who objects to an author speaking of the attraction of 

 gravity as ruling the movements of the planets? Every 

 one knows what is meant and is implied by such meta 

 phorical expressions; and they are almost necessary for 

 brevity. So again it is difficult to avoid personifying the 

 word Nature; but I mean by Nature only the aggregate 

 action and product of many natural laws, and by laws 

 the sequence of events as ascertained by us. With a 

 little familiarity such superficial objections will be for- 

 gotten. 



We shall best understand the probable course of natu- 

 ral selection by taking the case of a country undergoing 

 some slight physical change, for instance, of climate. 

 The proportional numbers of its inhabitants will almost 

 immediately undergo a change, and some species will 



