The Development of Life 53 



"Darwin's theory of the natural origin of 

 species at once gave us the solution of the mystic 

 1 problem of creation,' the great c question of all 

 questions ' the problem of the true character and 

 origin of man himself" (p. 28) \cf. p. 19 above]. 



It is a great deal more than that patient 

 observer and deep thinker Charles Darwin 

 ever claimed, nor have his wiser disciples 

 claimed it for him. It is familiar that he 

 explained how variations once arisen would 

 be clinched, if favourable in the struggle, by 

 the action of heredity and survival ; but the 

 source or origin of the variations themselves 

 he did not explain. 



Do they arise by guidance or by chance ? 

 Is natural selection akin to the verified and 

 practical processes of artificial selection ? or 

 is it wholly alien to them and influenced by 

 chance alone ? The latter view can hardly 

 be considered a complete explanation, though 

 it is verbally the one adopted by Professor 

 Haeckel, and it is of interest to see what he 

 means by chance : 



" Since impartial study of the evolution of the 

 world teaches us that there is no definite aim and 



