208 Luck, or Cunning ? 
Erasmus-Darwinian theory of descent through natural 
selection from among variations that are mainly functional, 
and his own alternative theory of descent through natural 
selection from among variations that are mainly accidental, 
and, above all, when he saw we were crediting him with 
other men’s work, he would have hastened to set us right. 
“It is with great regret,’ he might have written, “ and 
with no small surprise, that I find how generally I have been 
misunderstood as claiming to be the originator of the theory 
of descent with modification ; nothing can be further from 
my intention; the theory of descent has been familiar to 
all biologists from the year 1749, when Buffon advanced 
it in its most comprehensive form, to the present day.” 
If Mr. Darwin had said something to the above effect, no 
one would have questioned his good faith, but it is hardly 
necessary to say that nothing of the kind is to be found in 
any one of Mr. Darwin’s many books or many editions ; 
nor is the reason why the requisite correction was never 
made far to seek. For if Mr. Darwin had said as much as I 
have put into his mouth above, he should have said more, 
and would ere long have been compelled to have explained 
to us wherein the difference between himself and his pre- 
decessors precisely lay, and this would not have been easy. 
Indeed, if Mr. Darwin had been quite open with us he 
would have had to say much as follows :— 
“T should point out that, according to the evolutionists 
of the last century, improvement in the eye, as in any other 
organ, is mainly due to persistent, rational, employment 
of the organ in question, in such slightly modified manner 
as experience and changed surroundings may suggest. 
You will have observed that, according to my system, this 
goes for very little, and that the accumulation of fortunate 
accidents, irrespectively of the use that may be made of 
them, is by far the most important means of modification. 
Put more briefly still, the distinction between me and my 
predecessors lies in this ;—my predecessors thought they 
