38 DARWIN AND NATURAL SELECTION 



Morgan puts it, viz., " Natural Selection " and 

 " The Struggle for Life," phrases of which every- 

 body has heard, the latter having even passed into 

 Parisian argot. The object of the present article 

 is to take stock of the present state of scientific 

 opinion as to Natural Selection, and this may 

 best be effected by composing a catena of quo- 

 tations from recognized scientific authorities, 

 connected by such amount of running comment- 

 ary as may seem useful to bind the words of others 

 into a compact bundle. 



Darwin's theses were, firstly, that variations 

 do occur ; secondly, that " variations useful in 

 some way to each being in the great and complex 

 battle of life " occur also and " in the course of 

 many successive generations " ; and, finally, that 

 if these do occur, " can we doubt (remembering 

 that many more individuals are born than can 

 possibly survive) that individuals having any 

 advantage, however slight, over others, would 

 have the best chance of surviving and of procreat- 

 ing their kind ? " * 



It would be travelling far beyond the scope of 

 this article to attempt any account of the history 

 of the reception of this theory. All the educated 

 world knows about it, and all can learn about it 

 in numberless biographies and other works. It is 

 the state of present day opinion with which we 

 are concerned, and such opinions may be segre- 



tated into three groups. There are those who 

 rmly adhere to the Darwinian view in all its 



* Origin of Species, etc. (6th ed. ), from which all quotations in 

 his article are taken, p. 63. 



