94 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



intent in the universe — optimistic facts, so called— can be classed 

 under two general heads: They are either, i, cases of natural or 

 genetic adaptation ; or, 2, they are mere coincidences. 



Still a third class was, however, named in which the advantage 

 is more apparent than real and becomes greatly reduced or dis- 

 appears altogether on closer examination. 



Under the first of these groups the following instances were 

 enumerated : 



1. A modern scientific writer had stated that in the case of the 

 maternal instinct it was a mere accident that the course of action 

 which the instinct prompts should be one that was conducive to the 

 welfare of the offspring. 



Against this view it was urged that this apparently fortuitous adap- 

 tation was clearly a genetic one and had been developed under the 

 operation of the selective laws now generally recognized in biology. 



2. The alleged excess of male over female births, supposed to be 

 brought about for the purpose of supplying the loss of males 

 incident to war and their more exposed mode of life, was questioned 

 as a fact; the loss of males by violence being, probably, nearly 

 compensated for by the greater delicacy of maternal functions; 

 yet, if the supposed excess were proved, it might do no more than 

 show that it was an advantage that it be so, which, on adaptation 

 principles, would amount to accounting for the fact. 



3. That the specific gravity of aquatic animals should almost 

 exactly equal that of their medium was held to be a clear case of 

 natural adaptation. 



4. The allied fact that the bones of birds are hollow and com- 

 municate with the outer air was explained in the same manner. 



5. The existence of the coal measures was cited as a favorite 

 theme of optimists, and it was shown that it partook of the char- 

 acter partly of the first and partly of the second group. If it be true, 

 as generally believed, that the process of their deposition had the 

 effect to purify the atmosphere of its alleged excess of carbonic 

 acid gas, then the fact must have constituted one of the conditions 



