212 THE EVOLUTION OF CONTINUITY 



It is clear that behind all Darwin's theory was the 

 crossing of selected Individuals as practised by man in 

 originating new varieties ; and that accepting it as certain 

 that in Nature new species must have originated in variation, 

 he had to solve the problem of how Nature could similarly 

 select Individuals possessing given variations, so that 

 interbreeding could take place without interference from 

 Individuals not possessing the variations. 



As it was imperative that the Individuals possessing the 

 variations should survive, it seemed inevitable to him that 

 those not possessing the variations should be destroyed or 

 weeded out, or removed in some way. 



He felt that he had the key to the whole problem in 

 his hands when he recognised that of any type of Individual 

 born only a small portion could survive owing to the 

 " struggle for existence." For he had only to suppose that 

 the variations in question were peculiarly favourable for 

 the perpetuation of the species to account for the destruction 

 or disappearance of the Individuals not possessing these 

 variations. The survivors were in his words " the fittest," 

 the non-survivors the " unfit." The Natural Selection was 

 thus obtained by weeding out all but the specially fit, whose 

 fitness was the possession of variations peculiarly suitable 

 for continued existence. 



There is here an intermingling of truth and fallacy 

 which is difficult to disentangle, and yet the fallacy can 

 be clearly discerned. 



But it is not our purpose to do more here than give a 

 bare outline of our own theory regarding sub-species 

 origination, and this is done in the form of the following 

 propositions which, incidentally, show where the weak 

 points are in Darwin's great theory. 



The propositions are : — 



The fundamental factor in sub-species origination has 

 been Environment. This it is which in innumerable forms 

 has modified development so that transmissible variation 

 has resulted. It has produced the Acquired Variation. 

 Life itself first appeared as Variation at the call of, or by 

 the force of Environment, and all the variations of Life 

 appeared through the influence of the same factor. 



The acquired variation is not " from whatever cause 



