74 



to prevent their perpetuation, and the survival and 

 perpetuation of the adapted, which we are in the habit 

 of calling the strong. It is not always the most pow- 

 erful animal,, as man looks at it, but the animal which 

 possesses those qualities, most essential to defense, the 

 procuring the natural food for its preservation, and the 

 best fitted to perpetuate its kind. And this form, very 

 likely, is, also, best fitted to produce those variations 

 in its offspring, if not in the first generation, at least 

 at the proper time, when such variations will be of the 

 most benefit to that species of animals, or to the genus 

 to which it belongs. 



Some of the experiments of Darwin on pigeons, and 

 of De Vries on vegetables, may show more than man's 

 mere physical welfare as the object. But these merely 

 prove that if, in the infinite happenings of nature, in 

 the formation of species, exactly the same individuals 

 should cohabit, under the same confinement, and arti- 

 ficial surroundings, the same result might happen. But 

 a bare statement of the suppositions shows the im- 

 probabilities. 



Tower's experiment with the potato beetle, con- 

 ducted for, from ten to twelve generations, gave no 

 evidence of producing permanent changed types. 



Pearl tried to produce a breed of chickens of high 

 egg laying capacity. He concluded that artificial se- 

 lection alone has no effect in changing type. 



The constant selection of seed corn and seed wheat, 

 have greatly improved the production of these grains, 

 so valuable to man. But the personal selection has to 

 be constantly renewed in order to maintain the new 

 varieties. This is not what is meant by natural selec- 

 tion. The factor common to both natural and artificial 

 selection is. that procreation is produced by natural 



