2i8 LUCK, OR CUNNING? 



belief that eacli new variety and ultimately eact new 

 species, is produced and maintained by having some 

 advantage over those with which it comes into com- 

 petition ; and the consequent extinction of less favoured 

 forms almost inevitably foUows" (p. 320). Sense and 

 consistency cannot be made of this passage. Substitute 

 " The theory of the preservation of favoured races 

 in the struggle for life " for " The theory of natural 

 selection" (to do this is only taking Mr. Darwin's 

 own synonym for natural selection), and see what 

 the passage comes to. " The preservation of favoured 

 races " is not a theory, it is a commonly observed 

 fact ; it is not " grounded on the belief that each 

 new variety," &c., it is one of the ultimate and most 

 elementary principles in the world of life. When we 

 try to take the passage seriously and think it out, 

 we soon give it up, and pass on, substituting "the 

 theory of descent " for " the theory of natural selec- 

 tion," and concluding that in some way these two 

 things must be identical. 



Again : — 



" The manner in which single species and whole 

 groups of species become extinct accords well with 

 the theory of natural selection " (p. 3 2 2). 



Again : — 



" This great fact of the parallel succession of the 

 forms of life throughout the world, is explicable on the 

 theory of natural selection " (p. 325 ). 



Again : — ■ 



" Let us now look to the mutual affinities of ex- 

 tinct and living species. They all fall into one grand 



