DR. A. E. WALLACE ON THE PSOBLEM OF UTILITS". 481 



The Pboblem of Utility : Are Specific Characters always or 

 generally Useful ? By Alfbed E. Wallace, LL.D., E.E.S., 



F.L.S. * 



[Eead 18th June, 1896.] 



The above stated question is discussed at great length in the 

 second part of the late Mr. Eomanes' 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 con- 

 clusive 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 argu- 

 ments adduced therein, seem to me to leave the problem just 

 where it was before ; but the variety of the subjects 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 argu- 

 ments 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. Eomanes' 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. Eomanes is 

 able to support his views by so many quotations from Darwin's 

 works, is due to the fact that Darwin was firmly convinced 

 of the heredity of acquired characters, and especially of the 

 influence of food and climate and the efi"ects of use and disuse ; 

 and this belief must be borne in mind whenever he speaks of 

 specific characters being due to other causes than natural 

 selection. It must also be remembered that Darwin was not 

 acquainted with the evidence we now possess as to the extreme 

 frequency of variation everywhere in nature, its large amount, 

 and its universality in every organ and every character that can 

 be measured or otherwise estimated. Had he known what we 

 now know on this subject, he would not so frequently have made 

 the proviso — " if they vary, for without variation natural selection 

 can do nothing," or have alluded to the possibility of variations 

 of the same kind occurring " perhaps after a long interval of 



LINN. JOUEN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XIY. 40 



