1893 ON SELF-ADAPTATION 361 



question. It simply refers the facts of adaptation 

 immediately to some theory of design, and so brings 

 us back again to Paley, Bell, and Chalmers. As 

 when a child asks why a flower closes at night, 

 and we answer him : Because God has made it 

 so, my dear. C'est magnifique, Trials ce n'est pas la 

 science. 



But do not mistake me. My quarrel is with the 

 term self-adaptation, which seems to imply causes of 

 a non-naturalistic kind. Which, of course, is quite a 

 different thing from doubting whether the natural- 

 istic explanation given by Darwin is adequate to 

 meet all the facts. I am myself more and more 

 given to question ' the all-sufficiency of natural 

 selection,' and this, whether or not use-inheritance 

 is one of the supplementary factors. But that 

 there are some hitherto undiscovered factors of 

 this kind where many of the phenomena of adap- 

 tation are concerned, I am more and more disposed 

 to suspect. Nevertheless I believe, in the light of 

 analogy, that they will all prove to be natural 

 causes, and therefore not correctly definable as 

 due to ' self-adaptation.' 



My hemiplegia has given me a terrible shake, so 

 I cannot write much. Indeed, this is the longest of 

 the few letters which I have written since my attack. 

 So please excuse seeming bluntness, and believe me 

 to remain, 



Ever yours, very truly and most interestedly, 



Geo. J. Eomanes. 



P.S. — Of course you would not in any case expect 



