THE PASSING OF DARWINISM. 



53 



This is what every, or nearly every, seed of a batch undergoes ; 

 and the result is that all which vary (as a rule it is all) vary alike in 

 adaptation ; while there are none which produce " inadaptive " 

 or, as Darwin calls them, " injurious " characters. 



I repeat and emphasize this, as it is the cause of the failure of 

 natural selection, for it is not too much to say that the whole theory 

 falls to the ground on the truth or fallacy of the word " injurious." 

 Theories are valueless if they cannot stand the test of experiment or 

 proof. And the real cause of the " Passing of Darwinism " is that 

 Darwin's theory has never received any corroboration from facts. 

 No species has ever been proved, either by induction or experiment, 

 to have arisen by means of natural selection. 



Let us hear his last words on his alternative explanation of Evolu- 

 tion. At the close of the sixth edition of the " Origin &c." he wrote : 

 " It appears that I formerly underrated the frequency and value of the 

 direct action of external conditions, as leading to permanent modifica- 

 tions of structure independently of natural selection. But, as my con- 

 clusions have been much misrepresented, I may be permitted to remark 

 that I placed in the introduction of every edition the words : ' I am 

 convinced that natural selection has been the main, but not the 

 exclusive, means of modification. ' This has been of no avail. Great 

 is the power of steady misrepresentation, but the history of science 

 shows that fortunately that power does not long endure." * 



It has endured till to-day, or fifty-five years. As one example of 

 many botanists who have discarded natural selection, Dr. Warming 

 thus writes at the conclusion of his great work on " The (Ecology 

 of Plants, an Introduction to the Study of Plant-communities " 

 (Eng. ed. 1909) : 



" It seems to be beyond doubt that characters peculiar to growth- 

 forms have arisen through direct adaptation to the environment or 

 natural self-regulation operating through countless generations, and 

 that at the same time the acquired characters have been fixed to a 

 greater or less extent by heredity. "f 



" In this matter Lamarck had," he adds, " a keener eye for the 

 truth than many modern investigators appear to possess " (p. 373). 

 The reader will remember Darwin's remark quoted above. 



* Origin &c. 6th ed. (1872) p. 421. 



f Dr. Warming had previously said in his Lagoa Santa (1892) : " Je reponds 

 brievement et incidemment a la question qui se pose, a savoir, si ces adaptations 

 au milieu doivent etre considerees comme une garantie, issue de selection natur- 

 elle, contre l'evaporation [succulent xerophytes], ou bien si elles doivent leur 

 origine a Taction modificatrice des formes, exercee directement par les conditions 

 de milieu. J'adopte cette derniere maniere de voir" (p. 465). 



