" Natural Selection " 6 1 



before he propounded " natural selection," in order to 

 show the working of the evolutionary plan. As Dewar 

 and Finn point out, the great mistake of the early 

 opponents of Darwin was in confounding evolution 

 with natural selection. As in men's minds evolution 

 became more and more an established belief, un- 

 consciously, natural selection came to be accepted 

 simultaneously. 



We are compelled, then, to come to the conclusion 

 that our knowledge of the process of evolution is much 

 as it was before Darwin propounded his now exploded 

 hypothesis. No doubt he did much to stimulate 

 research, and it may even be admitted that he has 

 helped the advance of human thought ; but the fact 

 remains that his hypothesis is not established, and 

 after all these years we are pretty much where we were 

 as to the method of the evolutionary plan. 



If we endeavour to sum up our knowledge in this 

 matter, to what conclusion do we come ? Firstly, that 

 of Dewar and Finn : " The real makers of species are the 

 inherent properties of protoplasm." We do not think we 

 ought to add, " and the laws of variation and heredity," 

 as we are too profoundly ignorant of these; and 

 secondly, that we are carried back, through the force 

 of pure reason, to the argument of design, having its 

 origin in a Great First Cause, which alone has given 

 laws to matter, method to the universe, and life upon 

 the earth. And surely it is time to accord the meed of 

 praise to Paulin, who, more than any thinker since 

 Darwin, has brought to the knowledge of men's minds 

 the actual phenomena of nature in regard to the control 

 of the excess of reproduction, and consequently how 

 unnecessary is the proposition of a " struggle for exist- 

 ence " and a " survival of the fittest," which formed 

 the basis upon which rests the central structure of the 

 Darwinian Theory — Natural Selection. 



