THE "WEAK SIDES OF NATURAL SELECTION. G9 



guiding, and controlling intervention of an Almighty Creator ; 

 that is a conclusion to which I came a good many years ago, and 

 one which I have never seen any reason to alter to the present 

 day 



Professor H. Langhorne Orchard, M.A., B.Sc. — I think Mr. 

 Slater has abundantly proved that natural selection, according to 

 the Darwinian theory, is subordinate to what Mr. Darwin would 

 call chance, i.e., undesigned coincidence. It appears that natural 

 selection could not work at all until variation is produced ; but 

 this variation is not supposed to owe its origin at all to natural or 

 any other selection, but to chance. Then again, after this natural 

 selection has worked, the results of its working will or will not 

 endure according as chance (i.e., according to the Darwinian hypo- 

 thesis, undesigned coincidence) shall go on. That, I think, is 

 shown fully on pages 62-3 ; so that really the whole fabric and 

 emphasis of Darwinism reposes upon chance. I think Mr. Slater 

 rather dwelt upon this, that natural selection, even according to 

 its advocates, is subordinate to chance, and would never originate 

 but for chance having set up variation, and, having originated, it 

 will or will not endure according as chance determines the matter. 

 That, I think, is well shown here. It is very interesting to see 

 that the goat is such a good natural selector, and no one, I suppose, 

 not even the most thorough-going Darwinian, would deny that the 

 goat has a certain amount of will and purpose ; now if, in its 

 action of natural selection, the goat works by will, purpose, and 

 intelligence, why should not natural selection work on other 

 occasions and through other agents also by will and purpose ? 

 Here, in one case at all events, it has done so, and in no case can 

 it be shown that it does not do so, if it exist at all. If, in the 

 case of the goat, there is will, purpose, and intelligence, why 

 should it not appear in other cases ? In every case in which we 

 trace the cause or origin it is found to be in design, and it is not 

 philosophical or scientific to assume that in other cases the cause 

 can be unconnected with design. 



Rev. A. K. Cherrill, M.A. — Mr. Slater has brought a for- 

 midable attack against the theory of natural selection, and it 

 would require a very careful consideration of all the points he has 

 raised, one by one, to see if any answer can be found to them 

 from the point of view of the advocate of natural selection. 

 Perhaps one of his difficulties might be answered : I refer to the 



