Correspondence on Biology, etc. 



my '' Darwinism,'* reading the explanation in the text. The 

 proof of such constant indefinite variability has been much 

 increased of late years, and if you consider that instead 

 of tens or hundreds of individuals, Nature has as many 

 thousands or millions to be selected from, every year or 

 two, it will be clear that the materials for adaptation are 

 ample. 



Again, I believe that the time, even as limited by Lord 

 Kelvin's calculations, is ample, for reasons given in 

 Chapter X., ''On the Earth's Age," in my "Island Life," 

 and summed up on p. 236. I therefore consider the difficulty 

 set forth on p. 2 of the leaflet you send is not a real one. To 

 my mind, the development of plants and animals from low 

 forms of each is fully explained by the variability proved to 

 exist, with the actual rapid multiplication and Natural 

 Selection. For this no other intellectual agency is required. 

 The problem is to account for the infinitely complex con- 

 stitution of the material world and its forces which rendered 

 living organisms possible; then, the introduction of con- 

 sciousness or sensation, which alone rendered the animal 

 world possible ; lastly, the presence in man of capacities and 

 moral ideas and aspirations which could not conceivably be 

 produced by variation and Natural Selection. This is stated 

 at p. 473-8 of my '' Darwinism," and is also referred to in 

 the article I enclose (at p. 443) and which you need not 

 return. 



The subject is so large and complex that it is not to be 

 wondered so many people still maintain the insufficiency of 

 Natural Selection, without having really mastered the facts, 

 I could not, therefore, answer your question without going 

 into some detail and giving references. . . . — Believe me 

 yours very truly, j^jj,^ r, Wallace. 



75 



