

V 



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'^^y prove 



^"S'^re facts.' 



Si. 



■^'5 seljlactin, ;;* 

 ■'^ to insure ada*'^' 



This ' ' 



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:ans of 



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it is subject, ii: 



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nd most mm\ i 



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,1 mode of action t 

 h i s more special i 



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the first to pcrcf.'^ 

 Natural Sek*- 



organisms 



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the merit of { 

 consequen^^- ■ 



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It 



ced up 



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J by Mr. A. ^ ..« 



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TBE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



575 



amount of evidence into an elaborate demonstration, 



r 



that this " preservation of favoured races in the struggle 

 for life " is an ever-acting cause of divergence amongst 



organic forms. 



He 



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of the process with marvellous subtlety. He has shown 

 how hosts of otherwise inexplicable facts are fully 

 accounted for by it. In brief^ he has proved that the 

 cause he alleges is a true cause.' 



But the general process, which is universal in its 

 operation, must be distinguished from the more special 

 process, which is less extensive in its range of appli- 

 cation. And accordingly Mr. Spencer, whilst clearly re- 

 cognizing the immense importance of Natural Selection 



'een the powers ij' (or 'survival of the fittest/ as he aptly renders it) as a 



cause of specific transmutation, nevertheless recognizes 

 it as only one of the causes which in the course of 

 time suffices to produce new species out of pre-existing 

 species. Thus any altered form or structure directly 

 brought about by a change in the external conditions to 

 which certain organisms are exposed may be trans- 

 mitted and perpetuated through the same principle of 

 inheritance^ and so also may functionally-produced 

 changes in organisms be perpetuated in a similar 

 manner. The two latter processes come under the 

 head of what Mr. Spencer terms ^direct equiUbration^ 

 whilst Natural Selection, so far as it is a *^ producer' 

 of change, acts by a process oi^ Indirect equtlthratton.^ 



Mr, Darwin, on the contrary, appears not to recognize 

 the distinctions above indicated, since he professes to 



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