462 Charles Darwin. 



principle. Not to speak of Wallace, his contemporary, who 

 came to it later, his countryman, Dr. Wells, as Mr. Darwin 

 points out, " distinctly recognizes the principle of natural selec- 

 tion, and this is the first recognition which has been indicated ; 

 but he applied it only to the races of men, and to certain char- 

 acters alone." Darwin, like the rest of the world, was unaware 

 of this anticipation until he was preparing the fourth edition of 

 his "Origin of Species," in 1866, when he promptly called 

 attention to it, perhaps magnifying its importance. However 

 this be, Darwin appears to have been first and alone in appre- 

 hending and working out the results which necessarily come 

 from the interaction of the surrounding agencies and conditions 

 under which plants and animals exist, including, of course, 

 their actions upon each other. Personifying the ensemble of 

 these and the consequences. — namely, the survival only of the 

 fittest in the struggle for life, — under the term of Natural Selec- 

 tion, Mi. Darwin with the instinct of genius divined, and with 

 the ability of a master worked out its pregnant and far-reach- 

 ing applications. He not only saw its strong points, but he 

 foresaw its limitations, indicated most of the objections in ad- 

 vance of his opponents, weighed them with judicial mind, and 

 where he could not obviate them, seemed never disposed to 

 underrate their force. Although naturally disposed to make 

 the most of his theory, he distinguished between what he could 

 refer to known causes and what thus far is not referrible to 

 them. Consequently, he kept clear of that common confusion 

 of thought which supposes that natural selection originates the 

 variations which it selects. He believed, and he has shown it 

 to be probable, that external conditions i wince the actions and 

 changes in the living plant or animal which may lead on to the 

 difference between one species and another; but he did not 

 maintain that they prorli/r,-// the changes, or were sufficient 

 scientifically to explain them. Unlike most of his contem- 

 poraries in this respect, he appears to have been thoroughly 

 penetrated by the idea that the whole physiological action of 

 the plant or animal is a response of the living organism to the 

 action of the surroundings. 



The judicial fairness and openness of Darwin's mind, his 

 penetration and sagacity, his wonderful power of eliciting the 



