180 THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION 



The meaning of the word expresses this : to c self- 

 adapt ' (sich anpasseri), signifies, indeed, the production 

 of an agreement by changes which in the majority 

 of cases commence in the mode of life and react upon 

 the construction. Graff expresses this in the words : 

 ' their deviation from the normal mode of life/ 



H. Driesch has expressed himself very tellingly 

 regarding adaptation. 1 ' True ' or secondary adapta- 

 tions, according to him, only occur when c any species 

 of variation in function occurs which agrees with a 

 variation of any one factor of the medium/ ' We call 

 secondary adaptations all occurrences in the domain 

 of form construction and function which serve to 

 restore the disturbed condition on lines which lie outside 

 the realm of so-called normality/ 3 



The type of a bird, for instance, might justly be 

 termed an adaptation if it could be shown what animal 

 produced its wings, etc., by adoption of an aerial 

 existence. So long as that cannot be done, the bird, 

 with its construction and its modes of life, is a given 

 type and not an evolved (geworden) one. Until, how- 

 ever, this, the only correct assumption, be everywhere 

 and logically followed up, in scientific parlance, a long 

 time must yet elapse. In the meantime all that is to 

 the purpose is ' adaptation/ 



As bases for the assumption that the parasitical 

 mode of life, and the therewith connected bodily con- 

 struction of the Parasites are acquired, we may state 



1 Philosophie des Organischen, I, p. 185. 



2 Ibid. p. 189. 



