ELIMINATION AND SELECTION. 



285 



tlio favniu-ablo varieties must be there ero they can bo 

 chosen out for survival. When Darwin spealvs of tiie eye 

 as formed by natural selection, he uses, somewhat un- 

 jj;uar(Jo(liy, the language of metaphor. Wo are thrown back 

 n])ou variation, bodily and mental, as the origin. But how 

 originates this variation? In response to surrounding con- 

 ditions. True ; but how ? 



Starting, however, with variations, somehow conditioned 

 and in some way caused, it has been my object to show that 

 thoy are, under Nature, subjected to a double process — a 

 process of elimination — weeding out the unfit, and a procoss 

 of selection — choosing out the more fit. Of tliese, elimina- 

 tion is the more universal, selection only coming into play 

 when intelligence has definitely appeared on the scene of 

 life. Of the three kinds of variations — favourable, neutral, 

 and unfavourable, elimination only gets rid of the unfavour- 

 able, leaving both the favourable and the neutral in posses- 

 sion of the field, except in those cases where severe and 

 long-continued competition has rendered even the neutral 

 variations relatively unfavourable. Selection, on the other 

 Iiand,pi(;ks out only the favourable variations; so that under 

 selection alone, the occurrence of useless structures or fea- 

 tures would bo anomalous. Both princi])]os have been opera- 

 tive imdor nature ; and both are in(!lude(i under Mr. Darwin's 

 terms, " Natural Selection " and " Sexual Selection." 



In conclusion, let me say that I am not so foolish or so 

 vain as to suppose that what I have here written and else- 

 whore taught is likely to effect a revolution in biological 

 nomenclature. Whether the occasional use of the term 

 "Natural Elimination," alongside of and in subservience to 

 Natural Selection, would be of service to those who are 

 students and teachers of Evolution doctrines, I must leave 

 others to judge. 



