57 



The following works were presented to the Library : — 



"Natural Theology, being the Gifford Lectures for 1891." By Sir George 

 G. Stokes, Bare, V.P.R.S. From the Author. 



" The Hebrew Bible and Science." By the Rev. W. C. Badger, M. A. 



From the Author. 



"Eclipses, Past and Future." By Rev. S. J. Johnson, M.A. Oxon. 

 F.R.A.S. Fro n t/ie Author 



'"Hindu Literature." E. A. Reed. „ 



" Life aiid Times of Joseph." By Rev. H. G. Tomkins. „ 



'The London Quarterly Review." A. Mc Arthur, Esq. 



" Natural Theology and Modern Thought." Rev. J. H. Kennedy, B.D. 



From the Author. 



"The Testimony of History to the Truth of Scripture." By Rev. 

 H. L. Hastings. from the Author. 



" Bulletins of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College." 



From Professor Alexander Agassiz. 



The following Paper was then read by the Author : — 



THE WEAK SIDES OF NATURAL SELECTION. 

 By J. W. Slater, Esq., F.C.S., F.E.S. 



IT may seem, perhaps, strange that in these days any sober- 

 minded naturalist, especially if a believer in Organic 

 Evolution, should venture to call in question the theory of 

 " Natural Selection." Yet it may be worth while to look 

 closely into this process and to ask whether it can really do 

 all that has been so freely ascribed to it. I shall not attempt 

 to describe or to define Natural Selection, since that task has 

 been performed in several works which are easily accessible. 

 I will merely say that it amounts to nearly the same thing, 

 though seen from another point of view, as the "struggle 

 for existence," or the " survival of the fittest," and that it is 

 the very essence of that form of Evolutionism which is 

 mainly due to Charles Darwin. Now I am by no means 

 seeking to deny that creatures out of harmony with their 

 surroundings are ill-calculated to survive. Still less can I 

 doubt that there is a struggle for existence raging in the 

 world around us. But I ask if this struggle is not more 

 likely to blot out existing forms of life than to bring new 

 forms into being, or to raise them to a higher stage of 

 existence ? 



p 2 



