WHAT IS DARWINISM? 57 



for the individual possessor. Nevertheless, 

 this difficulty, though appearing to our imag- 

 ination 1 insuperably great, cannot be consid- 

 ered real, if we admit the following proposi- 

 tions, namely, that all parts of the organizations 

 and instincts offer, at least, individual differ- 

 ences ; that there is a struggle for existence, 

 which leads to the preservation of profitable 

 deviations of structure or instinct ; and, lastly, 

 that gradations in the state of perfection of 

 each organ may have existed, each good of its 

 kind." He says, over and over, that if beauty 

 or any variation of structure can be shown 

 to be intended, it would " annihilate his the- 

 ory." His doctrine is that such unintended 

 variations, which happen to be useful in the 

 struggle for life, are preserved, on the principle 

 of the survival of the fittest. He urges the 

 usual objections to teleology derived from un- 

 developed or useless organs, as web-feet in the 

 upland goose and frigate-bird, which never 

 swim. 



What, however, perhaps more than anything, 

 makes clear his rejection of design is the man- 

 ner in which he deals with the complicated or- 



1 What can the word " imagination " mean in this sentence, 

 if it does, not mean " Common Sense ? " 



