244 LUCK, OR CUNNING? 



there is, we know hardly anything about it. This is 

 my distinctive feature ; there is no deception ; I shall 

 not consider the arguments of my predecessors, nor 

 show in what respect they are insufficient ; in fact, I 

 shall say nothing whatever ahout them. Please to 

 understand that I alone am in possession of the master 

 key that can unlock the bars of the future progress 

 of evolutionary science ; so great an improvement, in 

 fact, is my discovery that it justifies me in claiming 

 the theory of descent generally, and I accordingly 

 claim it. If you ask me in what my discovery con- 

 sists, I reply in this ; — that the variations which we 

 are all agreed accumulate are caused — by variation.'" 

 I admit that this is not telling you much about them, 

 but it is as much as I think proper to say at present ; 

 above all things, let me caution you against thinking 

 that there is any principle of general application under- 

 lying variation." 



This would have been right. This is what Mr. 

 Darwin would have had to have said if he had been 

 frank with us ; it is not surprising, therefore, that he 

 should have been less frank than might have been 

 wished. I have no doubt that many a time between 

 1859 and 1882, the year of his death, Mr. Darwin 

 bitterly regretted his initial error, and would have 

 been only too thankful to repair it, but he could only 

 put the diflference between himself and the early 

 evolutionists clearly before his readers at the cost of 

 seeing his own system come tumbling down like a 

 pack of cards ; this was more than he could stand, 

 * See Evolution Old and New, pp. 8, 9. 



