The Age of Parents 5 5 



tion. What is given, however, is sufficiently com- 

 prehensive to make it evident that the advance of 

 many animals in the scale of evolution is quite 

 accurately represented by the length of time 

 elapsing from one generation to the next. 



Due consideration of the table will make it 

 evident that selection has nothing to do with 

 bringing about the kind of improvements which 

 distinguish the higher animals from the lower 

 ones, and consequently nothing to do with the 

 improvement of the human race. To have se- 

 lection, a pair of parents must produce more 

 than a pair of offspring, and the greater the num- 

 ber of offspring, the more the opportunity for 

 selection to get in its deadly work. Also, the 

 more frequently the generations follow each 

 other, the more is the selection. Lengthening the 

 time between generations cuts out selection and 

 its opportunities for accomplishing anything. 

 Looking at that table it is seen that we get im- 

 provement by a process which necessarily results 

 in eliminating selection. If selection had any- 

 thing to do with the matter, then rabbits should 

 very quickly overtake and pass human beings. 



