1890 PHYSIOLOGICAL SELECTION 169 



I sincerely hope you will give your attention to 

 the subject, because the great danger I now fear is 

 prejudice against the theoiy on account of people not 



taldng the trouble to understand it. How absurd , 



for example, giving that quotation from ' Origin ' in 

 ' Xature,' as evidence of Mr. Darwin's having con- 

 sidered the theory. Eead with its context, the pas- 

 sage is arguing (much against the writer's desire) that 

 variations in the way of sterihty with parent forms 

 cannot be seized upon (or perpetuated as specific dis- 

 tinctions) by natural selection. But physiological 

 selection says that such variations do not require to he 

 seized upon hy natural selection. Therefore, so far as 

 the passage in question proves anything, it tends to 

 show that nothing could have been further from the 

 mind of the writer than a theory which would have 

 rendered his whole argument superfluous, and I can 

 scarcely beheve that if the theory of physiological 

 selection had ever occurred to him, he would not have 

 mentioned it, if only to state his objections to it, as 

 he has done with regard to so many ideas of a much 

 less feasible character. 



I write at length because I value your judgment 



more than that of almost anybody else upon a subject 



of this kind, and therefore I should like it to be given 



with your eyes open. Prejudice at first there must 



be, but there need not be misunderstanding; and 



private correspondence shows me that the theory has 



already struck root in some of the best minds who 



do understand it. Any explanation, therefore, will be 



gladly given you by 



Tom-s very truly, 



Geo. J. EoMAXEs. 



