CHAPTER XVIII 



THE PROBLEM OF UTILITY : ARE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS 

 ALWAYS OR GENERALLY USEFUL ? ^ 



The above stated question is discussed at great length 

 in the second part of the late Mr. Romanes' work on 

 Darwin and After Darwin, fully half of the volume being 

 devoted to it ; and in the preface the author states his 

 belief that his arguments are so conclusive that he has 

 " broken to fragments " the doctrine of utility, and that 

 he has " made a full end thereof" A careful perusal of 

 the volume, and a full consideration of all the facts and 

 arguments adduced therein, seem to me to leave the prob- 

 lem just where it was before ; but the variety of the sub- 

 jects discussed, the great mass of details referred to, and 

 the ingenuity of some of the arguments in support of the 

 author's view, lead me to think that I have not hitherto 

 set forth the facts and arguments in favour of the utility- 

 theory with sufficient completeness, while I am indebted 

 to the lamented author for pointing out one or two weak 

 points in my discussion of the question, and for a number 

 of useful references to Darwin's statements on the points 

 at issue, some of which I had overlooked. 



Although Mr. Romanes' discussion of the question is so 

 lengthy, the problem itself is in its essence a comparatively 

 simple one, and is I believe capable of being solved by a 

 reference to well-known facts and admitted principles. 

 The reason why Mr. Romanes is able to support his views 



^ This paper was read before the Linnean Society on June 18th, 1896, 

 and printed in the Journal — Zoology, vol. xxv^ 



