DARWIN'S NATURAL SELECTION 41 



of Darwin's work. On the contrary, he knew 

 the art of combining Darwin's results with his 

 own, without doing violence to either." 



This evidence of the general consensus of 

 opinion among Socialist scholars as to the 

 value of Darwin's work and its special import- 

 ance for Socialism could easily be enlarged 

 indefinitely. But enough has been cited to 

 show that a comprehensive grasp of the So- 

 cialist philosophy implies a knowledge of 

 Darwinian theories. 



The greatness of Darwin's work has two 

 aspects; the immense impetus he gave to the 

 general theory of evolution, and, his discovery 

 of its main process, "natural selection." In 

 the popular mind this distinction is lost in 

 confusion and a great army of popular but 

 ill-informed expounders have added to the 

 muddle. The two things although closely re- 

 lated — a.^ cause and effect — are yet quite 

 distinct, and a clearer understanding of Dar- 

 win's work is made possible by the distinction 

 being kept in mind. The honor of having dis- 

 covered "natural selection" Darwin shares 

 with Wallace only; as a contributor to the 

 theory of evolution, he is one of a long and 

 illustrious line. But even here he is the greatest 

 of them all precisely because of his specific dis- 

 covery which, by explaining how evolution 



