152 THE FALLACIES OF NATURAL SELECTION. 



the converse, viz., that there is not such advance in 

 development, but, rather, a retrograde movement, in 

 even the elect, or the " stronger and more vigorous." 



There is another fallacy in Darwin's use of the terms, 

 "stronger and more vigorous;" independently of the 

 consideration that, in view of the circumstances, they 

 are grammatically incorrect. The assertion, that the 

 "stronger and more vigorous " survive, may (when the 

 sometime-mentioned latitude of expression is allowed) 

 be true, in one sense; but is false, when viewed with 

 reference to the inference designed to be drawn. In 

 Darwin's statement of the fact of the Selection under 

 nature, he uses the terms " stronger and more vigor- 

 ous," as if he intended them as terms of comparison 

 with their contemporaries only. In the inference which 

 he draws, however, he employs them, — not as terms of 

 comparison only with those individuals which have 

 succumbed, — but as terms of comparison with the in- 

 dividuals of a preceding generation. When his readers 

 read his statement, that "the stronger and more vig- 

 orous" survive, they yield assent to the proposition. 

 Yes (they reason), they (the elect) are stronger and 

 more vigorous than the weak ones with constitu- 

 tions so impaired as to cause death. But, when the 

 readers are asked to accept Darwin's alleged inference 

 therefrom (i e., of advance in. development), they are 

 assumed (by Darwin) to have yielded assent to. some- 

 thing entirely different. They assented to the implica- 

 tion, that the elect were stronger and more vigorous 

 than certain of their contemporaries ; and, now, in the 

 inference forced upon them, they are coolly assumed 



