2o5 LUCK, OR CUNNING? 



" My view " here, especially in the absence of refer- 

 ence to any other writer as having held the same 

 opinion, implies as its most natural interpretation that 

 descent pure and simple is Mr. Darwin's view. Sub- 

 stitute " the theory of descent " for " my view," and 

 we do not feel that we are misinterpreting the author's 

 meaning. The words " my view " remain in aU 

 editions. 



Again : — 



" Long before having arrived at this part of my 

 work, a crowd of difficulties will have occurred to the 

 reader. Some of them are so grave that to this day 

 I can never reflect on them without being staggered ; 

 but to the best of my belief the greater number are 

 only apparent, and those that are real are not, I think, 

 fatal to my theory. 



" These difficulties and objections may be classed 

 under the following heads : — Firstly, if species have 

 descended from other species by insensibly fine grada- 

 tions, why do we not everywhere see ? " &c. (p. 171). 



We infer from this that " my theory " is the theory 

 " that species have descended from other species by 

 insensibly fine gradations" — that is to say, that it 

 is the theory of descent with modification; for the 

 theory that is being objected to is obviously the theory 

 of descent in toto, and not a mere detail in connection 

 with that theory. 



The words " my theory " were altered in 1872, with 

 the sixth edition of the " Origin of species," into " the 

 theory ; " but I am chiefly concerned with the first 

 edition of the work, my object being to show that 



