THE COMING OF EVOLUTION 221 



In one sense, the acceptance of the theory of natural 

 selection is the completion of the philosophic work 

 The Experi- begun and mapped out by Francis Bacon, 

 mentsof Nature.B acon taught that the method of empirical 

 experiment was the sole road to natural knowledge 

 for mankind. Darwin showed that Nature herself 

 uses the method of empirical experiment, both in the 

 animal and vegetable worlds. She tries all possible 

 variations, and, out of countless trials, a few succeed 

 in establishing that new and greater harmony between 

 the being and its environment from which evolution 

 proceeds. 



If accepted in its fullest sense, natural selection is 

 the negation of all teleology. There is no end in view : 

 merely a constant haphazard change both of indivi- 

 duals and of environment, and sometimes a chance 

 agreement between them, which, for a brief moment, 

 may give some appearance of finality. 



Herbert Spencer's phrase for natural selection, 

 " the survival of the fittest/' standing alone, begs the 

 question. What is the fittest ? The answer is : "The 

 fittest is that which best fits the existing environ- 

 ment." It may be a higher type than that which 

 preceded it, but it may be a lower. Evolution by 

 natural selection may lead to advancement, but it may 

 lead to degeneration. As Mr Balfour has pointed out, 

 on the full selectivist philosophy the only proof of 

 fitness is survival : that which is fit survives, and that 

 which survives is fit. We may seek to break away 

 from the circle by declaring that, on the whole, 

 evolution has produced a rise in type, that man is 

 higher than his simian ancestors. But then we take 

 on us to pronounce on what is higher and what is 



