ADAPTATION FOR THE INDIVIDUAL 89 
doubt as to the choice. The truth is far better ex- 
pressed by the word design than by the chaos which 
is the alternative idea in the average mind. In these 
later years we have come to use a different word. We 
now conjure in such connection with the word adapta- 
tion. In every animal and every plant the trained 
eye sees unending examples of adaptation; that is, 
of a fittedness to the work it has to do. The modern 
scientist feels sure not only that the animal is fitted to 
his work, but that he has been so fitted by the work; 
that the very use he makes of his organs has deter- 
mined their structure. This work has decided that 
the structure which he has is the structure that shall 
survive and shall produce other structures like itself. 
Adaptation therefore does not simply express the idea 
that the animal is adjusted to its surroundings, but 
it further suggests that the animal by gradual process 
has become thus adjusted. The word adaptation ap- 
plies not simply to the result, but also to the process. 
The scientist does not consider the animal a final and 
complete result. He thinks it still in a state of flux, 
and so long as its line lasts it will be in a state of flux. 
Change is about it on every side, and it must adapt 
itself to this change or it will pass away. It may ad- 
just itself, as has been previously stated, by moving to 
another environment in which it feels more at home, 
but unless it does this, if there come much change in 
