THE FALLACIES OP NATURAL SELECTION. 135 



Natural Selection were proven to be perfectly compe- 

 tent, in itself, to preserve and accumulate such ad- 

 vances in development, or such variations; the ac- 

 cumulation of such advances in development, or such 

 variations, by means of Natural Selection, could not 

 proceed to the extent necessary to evolve one species 

 into another, because the presumption — which arises 

 from Darwin's very detail of the operation of Natural 

 Selection— which arises from the many rudimentary 

 organs adduced by him — which arises from the many 

 features which he admits have been reduced or simpli- 

 fied by the action of the conditions of Natural Selec- 

 tion — which arises from the many characters which, 

 Darwin says, have been so wholly suppressed, under 

 nature, that not a vestige of their past development 

 remains — which arises from the multitude of organs 

 and features which he confesses are due to Rever- 

 sion — and which arises from the fact that there is, 

 confessedly, no other scientific explanation of varia- 

 tions than Reversion — is, that any such advances in de- 

 velopment, and any such slight variations, are but the 

 regain of what was previously lost by the varying 

 species; and, being restricted, therefore, in amount, to 

 the amount lost by such species, the amount preserved 

 and accumulated by Natural Selection must necessarily 

 be commensurately restricted. 



Third; With respect to Darwin's assumption, that 

 an occasional, marked variation may probably "arise 

 once in the course of thousands of generations ;" it is 

 not intended to gainsay this point, but, 



Fourth : It is intended .to show that even though these 



