192 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



Mountains, constitutionally adapted to let the 

 snow slide from their pendulous branches and 

 acicular leaves, had hardly a twig broken. If 

 similar storms occurred several times a year, instead 

 of once in twenty years, there would soon be no 

 Blue Gums or Wattles. 



Objections and Criticisms. — ^Darwin's sugges- 

 tion was that new adaptations, new varieties, new 

 species have arisen by the elimination of the 

 relatively unfit variants and by the selection of 

 the relatively fit. In other words, natural selection 

 is the main directive factor in evolution. That is 

 to say, given variations, the secret of success is 

 sifting. Against this theory all manner of objec- 

 tions have been urged — fair and unfair, competent 

 and incompetent, wise and foolish. The army of 

 objections is so huge that one feels there must be 

 strong virtue in a theory that is so vigorous after 

 fifty years. It should always be remembered 

 that the best and the severest critic of the theory 

 of natural selection was Charles Darwin himself.' 

 We do not propose to defend the theory or to 

 slay the thrice slain, but the following statements 

 may serve to remove some common misunder- 

 standings. 



(1) It must be clearly understood that the 

 " fittest " which survive are not necessarily best 

 or highest on any absolute standard, but simply 

 fittest for the given conditions. The liver-fluke is 

 " fit," as well as the sheep. 



(2) Until we know more about the origin of 

 the variations which form the raw material of 



1 An admirable statement of the objections to the theory of 

 natural selection, and an answer to them, will be found in Prof. 

 Plate's "Handbook to Darwinism." (Leipsig, 1908.) 



