Darwin and Descent 179 
“ These difficulties and objections may be classed under 
the following heads :—Firstly, if species have descended 
from other species by insensibly fine gradations, why do 
we not everywhere see ?’’ &c. (p. 171). 
We infer from this that “‘ my theory ” is the theory “ that 
species have descended from other species by insensibly 
fine gradations ’—that is to say, that it is the theory of 
descent with modification ; for the theory that is being 
objected to is obviously the theory of descent in tofo, and 
not a mere detail in connection with that theory. 
The words ‘‘ my theory ” were altered in 1872, with the 
sixth edition of the “ Origin of species,”’ into “ the theory ;” 
but I am chiefly concerned with the first edition of the work, 
my object being to show that Mr. Darwin was led into 
his false position as regards natural selection by a desire 
to claim the theory of descent with modification ; if he 
claimed it in the first edition, this is enough to give colour 
to the view which I take; but it must be remembered that 
descent with modification remained, by the passage just 
quoted “ my theory,” for thirteen years, and even when in 
1869 and 1872, for a reason that I can only guess at, ‘‘ my 
.theory ” became generally “ the theory,” this did not make 
it become any one else’s theory. It is hard to say whose 
or what it became, if the words are to be construed techni- 
cally ; practically, however, with all ingenuous readers, 
“the theory ’’ remained as much Mr. Darwin’s ‘theory as 
though the words “‘ my theory’ had been retained, and 
Mr. Darwin cannot be supposed so simple-minded as not to 
have known this would be the case. Moreover, it appears, 
from the next page but one to the one last quoted, that Mr. 
Darwin claimed the theory of descent with modification 
generally, even to the last, for we there read, “ By my 
theory these allied species have descended from a common 
“parent,” and the ‘‘ my ” has been allowed, for some reason 
not quite obvious, to survive the general massacre of Mr. 
‘Darwin’s “ my’s”’ which occurred in 1869 and 1872. 
