62 DARWINISM TESTED BY 



South-African families, which, over a large 

 territory, branched off into such a multi- 

 tude of directions. A similar process is 

 assumed by Darwin with regard to the 

 animal and vegetable creation ; that is 

 what he calls "the struggle for life." A 

 multitude of organic forms had to perish 

 in this struggle in order to make room 

 for comparatively few favoured^ races. But 

 let Darwin speak for himself He says : 

 " The dominant species of the larger do- 

 minant groups tend to leave many modi- 

 fied descendants behind, and thus arise 

 new groups and sub-groups. In propor- 

 tion as these arise, the feebler groups, in 

 consequence of their common inheritance 

 of imperfection, incline to a common ex- 

 tinction, without leaving any modified 

 issue behind on any part of the surface 

 of the earth. The complete extinction of 

 any group of species may often be a 



