150 THE FALLACIES OF NATURAL SELECTION. 



succumb to the hard conditions which constitute the 

 Struggle for Existence; and the least weak and the 

 least degenerate, and those which manage to hold 

 their own, survive. Had he so expressed himself, no 

 implication of advance in development would have 

 arisen, as it does arise, when, in the face of the con- 

 verse implication, arising from the fact of the Struggle 

 for Existence, he uses the terms "strongest and most 

 vigorous," in the stead of the terms, least degenerate, 

 or least weak. 



When Darwin says, that, in each generation, " the 

 strongest and most vigorous " survive, and that they 

 alone continue the line of descent for the given species, 

 the presumption, arising in the mind of his reader 

 (and the presumption which Darwin evidently designed 

 should arise), is, that there is, therefore, advance in 

 development. This presumption, as has already been 

 shown, does not necessarily attend the fact of the 

 selection of "the strongest and most vigorous." This 

 presumption legitimately arises, only from such selec- 

 tion, and from conditions favorable to an advance in 

 development, combined. The place, where the pre- 

 sumption has been generally employed, has been 

 under domestication. There, the two conditions of 

 the presumption, prevail. There are, generally, under 

 domestication, both selection, and favorable conditions 

 which have been observed generally to induce an 

 advance in development. 



Under nature, there is selection, but there are not fav- 

 orable conditions ; for, to work the selection there, there 

 needs must be unfavorable conditions ! In drawing the 



