The Question at Issue 93 
variations accidental, yet, to do him justice, he did not 
like it. Even in the earlier editions of the ‘Origin of 
Species,” where the “alterations” in the passage last 
quoted are called ‘accidental’ in express terms, the 
word does not fall, so to speak, on a strong beat of the bar, 
and is apt to pass unnoticed. Besides, Mr. Darwin does 
not say point blank ‘‘ we may believe,” or ‘“‘ we ought to 
believe ;”” he only says ‘‘ may we not believe?” The 
reader should always be on his guard when Mr. Darwin 
asks one of these bland and child-like. questions, and he is 
fond of asking them ; but, however this may be, it is plain, 
as I pointed out in ‘‘ Evolution Old and New ’’* that the 
only “ skill,” that is to say the only thing that can possibly 
involve design, is “‘ the unerring skill’’ of natural selec- 
tion. 
In the same paragraph Mr. Darwin has already said : 
“ Further, we must suppose that there is a power repre- 
sented by natural selection or the survival of the fittest 
always intently waching each slight alteration, &c.” Mr. 
Darwin probably said “a power represented by natural 
selection ’’ instead of “‘ natural selection” only, because 
he saw that to talk too frequently about the fact that the 
most lucky live longest as “ intently watching ’’ something 
was greater nonsense than it would be prudent even 
for him to write, so he fogged it by making the intent 
watching done by “a power represented by” a fact, 
instead of by the fact itself. As the sentence stands it is 
just as great nonsense as it would have been if “‘ the sur- 
vival of the fittest ’’ had been allowed to do the watching 
instead of “ the power represented by ” the survival of the 
fittest, but the nonsense is harder to dig up, and the reader 
is more likely to pass it over. 
This passage gave Mr. Darwin no less trouble than it 
must have given to many of his readers. In the original 
edition of the ‘‘ Origin of Species ’’ it stood, “‘ Further, we 
* Page 9. 
