24 SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 



unworthy of the consideration of reasoning 

 persons. 



But has it been shattered or has it not, as re- 

 stated in face of the present attitude of science, 

 really acquired a greater force than it possessed 

 in the days of Paley, the days before the Origin of 

 Species had appeared ? This is the question which 

 I desire to consider, and in doing so I do not pause 

 to argue as to whether the theory of Natural Selec- 

 tion is or is not true. There are at least three well- 

 marked schools of opinion on that head. There 

 are those who deny its effectiveness in evolution 

 altogether, a small but existent band. There are 

 those who look upon it as the main, even the sole 

 and sufficient factor of evolution, a larger, a more 

 important, but perhaps decreasing band. And 

 there is the middle party which, whilst regarding 

 Natural Selection as an agent, perhaps a very 

 important agent in evolution, sees that its power 

 is limited, and probably inferior to other factors, 

 such, for example, as isolation.* Let us assume the 

 theory in question to be true, and consider how 

 it bears upon the argument with which I am 

 dealing. 



It is curious that it should be necessary to make 

 the observation, but it is necessary to point out 

 that Natural Selection cannot cause anything, 

 and this because it cannot cause any variation. It 

 is also curious that this fundamental misconcep- 

 tion often made, at least by implication, to-day 

 should have been made in Darwin's own time, 

 and corrected by Darwin himself in later editions 



* This question is dealt with more fully in the succeeding article. 



>+*. 



