8 Luck, or Cunning? 
In the course of writing I became more and more con- 
vinced that no progress could be made towards a sounder 
view of the theory of descent until people came to under- 
stand what the late Mr. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural 
selection amounted to, and how it was that it ever came 
to be propounded. Until the mindless theory of Charles 
Darwinian natural selection was finally discredited, and a 
mindful theory of evolution was substituted in its place, 
neither Mr. Tylor’s experiments nor my own theories could 
stand much chance of being attended to. I therefore de- 
voted myself mainly, as I had done in ‘‘ Evolution Old 
and New,” and in ‘‘ Unconscious Memory,” to considering 
whether the view taken by the late Mr. Darwin, or the one 
put forward by his three most illustrious predecessors, 
should most command our assent. 
The deflection from my original purpose was increased 
by the appearance, about a year ago, of Mr. Grant Allen’s 
“Charles Darwin,” which I imagine to have had a very 
large circulation. So important, indeed, did I think it not 
to leave Mr. Allen’s statements unchallenged, that in 
November last I recast my book completely, cutting out 
much that I had written, and practically starting anew. 
How far Mr. Tylor would have liked it, or even sanctioned 
its being dedicated to him, if he were now living, I cannot, 
of course, say. I never heard him speak of the late Mr. 
Darwin in any but terms of warm respect, and am by no 
means sure that he would have been well pleased at an 
attempt to connect him with a book so polemical as the 
present. On the other hand, a promise made and received 
as mine was, cannot be set aside lightly. The understand- 
ing was that my next book was to be dedicated to Mr. 
Tylor ; I have written the best I could, and indeed never 
took so much pains with any other ; to Mr. Tylor’s memory, 
