CiiAP. IV. VARIOUS OBJECTIONS. 125 



eiit," would come into action. But as we have no facts to 

 guide us, all speculation on the subject is useless. It is, how- 

 ever, an en-or to suppose that there would be no struggle for 

 existence, and, conseciuently, no natural selection, until many 

 forms had been produced : variations in a single species in- 

 habiting an isolated station might be beneficial, and thus the 

 Avhole mass of individuals might be modified, or two distinct 

 forms might arise. But, as I remarked toward the close of the 

 Introduction, no one ought to feel surprise at much remaining 

 as yet unexplained on the origin of species, if we make due 

 allowance for our profound ignorance on the mutual relations 

 of the inhabitants of the world during the past epochs in its 

 historj'. 



Various Objectiofis considered. 



I will here notice a few miscellaneous objections Avhich 

 nave been advanced against my views, as some of the previous 

 discussions may perhaps thus be made clearer; but it would 

 be useless to discuss all of them, as many have been made by 

 writers Avho have not taken the trouble to understand my views. 

 Thus a distinguished German naturalist has recently asserted 

 that the weakest part of my theory is, that I consider all or- 

 ganic beings as imperfect : what I have really said is, that all 

 are not as ]ierfect in relation to their conditions as they might 

 be ; and this is shown to be the case by so many native forms 

 in many quarters of the world yielding their places to intrud- 

 ing foreigners which have become naturalized. Nor can all 

 organic beings, even if they were at any one time perfectly 

 adapted to their conditions of life, remain so, when the condi- 

 tions slowly change, unless they likewise change; and no one 

 will dispute that the physical conditions of each country, as 

 well as the numbers and kinds of its inhabitants, are liable to 

 change. 



It has been argued that, as none of the animals and plants 

 of Egypt, of which we know any thing, have clianged dining 

 the last 3,000 years, so pro1)ably none have been modified in 

 any other part of the world. The many animals which have 

 remained unehanged since the commencement of the glacial 

 jieriod would have been an incomparably stronger case, for 

 tliese have been exposed to great changes of climate and have 

 migrated over great distances ; whereas, in Egypt, during the 

 last 3,000 years, the conditions of life, as far as we know, have 

 remained abs(jlutely uniform. The fact of little or no modifi- 



