t PBOLBGOMINA 7 



gone, it tends, with constantly increasing 

 'mphasi>, to the belief that, not merely the 

 world >f plants, but that of animals; not merely 

 living things, but the whole 1 tiibric of the earth ; 

 not merely our planet, but the whole solar 

 system ; not merely our star and its satellites, 

 but the millions of similar bodies which bear 

 witness to the order which pervades boundless 

 -pare, and has endured through boundless time; 

 <tre__all working out iln-ir predestined courses of 

 evolution. ^ 



With none of these have I anything to do, at 

 piesent, except with that exhibited by the forms 

 of life which tenant the earth. All plants and 

 animals exhibit the tendency to y.aa^fche causes" 

 "f which have yet to be ascertained ;*.it is tin- 

 tendency of the conditions of life, at any given 

 time, whih favouring the existence of the varia- 

 tions best adapted to them, to oppose that of the 



and thus to exercise selection ;~Vand all O 

 living things Lend to multiply without limit, 

 while the means of support are limited Afche 

 obvious i which is the production of 



>:f-|'iii.u more numerous than their progenitors, 

 but with ei|iial expectation of life in the actuarial^ 

 Without the ,fTrsl) tendency there could 



- ! ^ 



lie no evolution. Without the second, there 

 would be no good reason why one variation should 

 disappear and another take its place ; that is to 

 say, there would be no selection. Without the 



