84 CRITICISMS OW " THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES " m 



apparatus thoroughly well adapted to a particular 

 purpose might be the result of a method of trial 

 and error worked by unintelligent agents, as well 

 as of the direct application of the means appro- 

 priate to that end, by an intelligent agent. 



Now it appears to us that what we have here, 

 for illustration's sake, supposed to be done with 

 the watch, is exactly what the establishment of 

 Darwin's Theory will do for the organic world. 

 For the notion that every organism has been 

 created as it is and launched straight at a purpose, 

 Mr. Darwin substitutes the conception of some- 

 thing which may fairly be termed a method of 

 trial and error. Organisms vary incessantly; of 

 these variations the few meet with surrounding 

 conditions which suit them and thrive ; the many 

 are unsuited and become extinguished. 



According to Teleology, each organism is like a 

 rifle bullet fired straight at a mark ; according to 

 Darwin, organisms are like grapeshot of which one 

 hits something and the rest fall wide. 



For the teleologist an organism exists because 

 it was made for the conditions in which it is found ; 

 for the Darwinian an organism exists because, out 

 of many of its kind, it is the only one which has 

 been able to persist in the conditions in which it 

 is found. 



Teleology implies that the organs of every 

 organism are perfect and cannot be improved ; the 

 Darwinian theory simply affirms that they work 



