NEOLA MARCKISM 4 1 5 



Strictest sense of the term, that natural selection is 

 not wanted as an ' aid ' or a ' means ' in originating 

 species." In a later paper* he reasserts that all 

 variations are definite, that there are no indefinite 

 variations, and that natural selection " can take no 

 part in the origination of varieties." He quotes 

 with approval the conclusion of Mr. Herbert Spencer 

 in 1852, published 



" seven years before Darwin and Dr. Wallace 

 superadded natural selection as an aid in the origin 

 of species. He saw no necessity for anything be- 

 yond the natural power of change with adaptation ; 

 and I venture now to add my own testimony, based 

 upon upwards of a quarter of a century's observa- 

 tions and experiments, which have convinced me 

 that Mr. Spencer was right and Darwin was wrong. 

 His words are as follows : ' The supporters of the 

 development hypothesis can show . . . that 

 any existing species, animal or vegetable, when 

 placed under conditions different from its previous 

 ones, immediately begins to undergo certain changes 

 of structure fitting it for the new conditions; . . . 

 that in the successive generations these changes con- 

 tinue until ultimately the new conditions become the 

 natural ones. . . . They can show that through- 

 out all organic nature there is at work a modifying 

 influence of the kind they assign as the causes of 

 specific differences; an influente which, though slow 

 in its action, does in time, if the circumstances de- 

 mand it, produce marked changes.' " f 



Mr. Henslow adduces observations and experi- 

 ments by Buckman, Bailey, Lesage, LotheHer, Cos- 



* " Does Natural Selection play any Part in the Origin of Species 

 among Plants?" Natural Science, Sept., 1897. 



f " Essay on the Development Hypothesis," 1852, London Times. 



