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CHAPTEE VI. 



THE TIME ELEMENT. 



THE vastly extended period of time that 

 has elapsed since life first appeared on our 

 globe, is a principal factor in the theory of 

 natural selection. 



Beneficial differences, originally small, 

 accumulating through numberless genera- 

 tions, became specific variations, and thus 

 new species arose, so Darwin argues 

 plausibly enough, and we must examine 

 the bases on which the argument rests. 



In the first place, time effects nothing. 

 Time merely gives opportunity for dormant 

 forces to come into action, or for forces in 

 action to develop results. Lapse of time 

 could not therefore, of itself, aid natural 

 selection. 



In the second place, there can be no ac- 

 cumulation if there is nothing to accumulate. 



Darwin appeals to the differences between 

 animals of admittedly the same race, and 



