ii8 . LUCK, OR CUNNING? 



means here the survival of the luckiest) " may readily 

 bring about the appropriate structural change, without 

 any aid from the transmission of functionally-acquired 

 modifications " (into which effort and design have 

 entered). " But in proportion as the life grows com- 

 plex — in proportion as a healthy existence cannot be 

 secured by a large endowment of some one power, but 

 demands many powers; in the same proportion do 

 there arise obstacles to the increase of any particular 

 power, by ' the preservation of favoured races in the 

 struggle for life ' " (that is to say, through mere survival 

 of the luckiest). " As fast as the faculties are multi- 

 plied, so fast does it become possible for the several 

 members of a species to have various kinds of supe- 

 riority over one another. While one saves its life by 

 higher speed, another does the like by clearer vision, 

 another by keener scent, another by quicker hearing, 

 another by greater strength,, another by unusual power 

 of enduring cold or hunger, another by special saga- 

 city, another by special timidity, another by special 

 courage ; and others by other bodily and mental attri- 

 butes. Now it is unquestionably true that, other 

 things equal, each of these attributes, giving its 

 possessor an equal extra chance of life, is likely to 

 be transmitted to posterity. But there seems no 

 reason to believe it will be increased in subsequent 

 generations by natural selection. That it may be thus 

 increased, the animals not possessing more than average 

 endowments of it must be more frequently killed off 

 than individuals highly endowed with it ; and this can 

 only happen when the attribute is one of greater im- 



