I20 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



perfectly formed but which are yet of no service to it 

 Nature then is far from subjecting herseK to final 

 causes in the composition of her creatures. Why 

 should she not sometimes add superabundant parts, 

 seeing she so often omits essential ones ? " " How many 

 animals are there not which lack sense and limbs? 

 Why is it considered so necessary that every part in 

 an individual should be useful to the other parts and 

 to the whole animal ? Should it not be enough that 

 they do not injure each other nor stand in the way of 

 each other's fair development ? All parts coexist which 

 do not injure each other enough to destroy each other, 

 and perhaps in the greater number of living beings 

 the parts which must be considered as relative, useful, 

 or necessary, are fewer than those which are indif- 

 ferent, useless, and superabundant. But we — ever on 

 the look out to refer all parts to a certain end — when 

 we can see no apparent use for them suppose them to 

 have hidden uses, and imagine connections which are 

 without foundation, and serve only to obscure our 

 perception of Nature as she really is : we fail to see that 

 we thus rob philosophy of her true character, which is to 

 inquire into the ' how ' of things — into the manner in 

 which Nature acts — and that we substitute for this true 

 object a vain idea, seeking to divine the ' why ' — the 

 ends which she has proposed in acting." * 



The Dog — Yarieties m consequence of Man's Selection. 

 " Of all animals the dog is most susceptible of im- 

 pressions, and becomes most eaaily modified by moral 



• Tom. V. p. 104, 1755. 



