262 MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE [Chap. VII. 



CHAPTEE VII. 



Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory op 

 Natural Selection. 



Longevity — Modifications not necessarily simultaneous — Modifica- 

 tions apparently of no direct service — Progressive development 

 — Characters of small functional importance, the most constant 

 — Supposed incompetence of natural selection to account for 

 the incipient stages of useful structures — Causes which inter- 

 fere with the acquisition through natural selection of useful 

 structures — Gradations of structure with changed functions — 

 "Widely different organs in members of the same class, developed 

 from one and the same source — Reasons for disbelieving in great 

 and abrupt modifications. 



I will devote this chapter to the consideration of various 

 miscellaneous objections which have been advanced 

 against my views, as some of the previous discussions 

 may thus be made clearer; but it would be useless to 

 discuss all of them, as many have been made by writers 

 who have not taken the trouble to understand the 

 subject. Thus a distinguished German naturalist has 

 asserted that the weakest part of my theory is, that I 

 consider all organic beings as imperfect : what I have 

 really said is, that all are not as perfect as they might 

 have been in relation to their conditions ; and this is 

 shown to be the case by so many native forms in many 

 quarters of the world having yielded their places to 

 intruding foreigners. Nor can organic beings, even if 



