Zomer 2009 no. 67
The Dutch Dickensian Volume XXIX
56
Char.ef DiekCT»0 ALL F11 .V.
lion of opinion, a balancing of probabilities, in
which each man judges according to his lights,
the tone of his mind, and the inferences which
his previous notions lead him to draw from the
premises before him. Two men may arrive at
contrary opinions, both reasoning with perfect
sincerity of heart and desire for truth. For
instance, while Mr. Darwin holds that the world
has been desolated by no past, cataclysm and
need appreiiend no future one (which is contrary
i to the universal tradition and belief of civilised
nations), M. Boutigny, a savant of high rank in
his own country, asserts, with specious and
i plausible argument, not only that the moon was
shot out by a convulsive explosion from the
earth, but that our planet may any day be seized
with the throes of a universal earthquake which
shall end in the expulsion of a second satellite;
in which case, every living thing must be de
stroyed by fire. No cataclysmWhy Mes
sieurs Adhémar aud Lehon, distinguished men
of science, believe (hat they have proved that a
i grand deluge must inevitably devastate the globe
I every ten thousand five hundred years;* that
such deluges have regularly occurred during all
previous time, and that such will recur again at
their st ated epochsand that, although these
grand deluges may not he so universal as to de-
desolate the whole world, they are cataclysms
sufficiently terrific to exterminate the great ma-
jority of existing creatures, and to render afresh
act of creation an event at least desirable and
called for by circumstances.
To return to the theory by which independent
creations are obviated. Nature is most prodigal
in conferring life. More individuals of every
kind, botli plants and animals, are produced
than cau possibly survive, and there must in
every case be a contest for life; either be
tween individuals of the same species, or be
tween the individuals of distinct species. It
is Maltlius's doctrine applied to the whole
animal and vegetable kingdoms, with increased
forcefor, in this case, there can be no arti
ficial increase of food, and no prudential re
straint from marriage. Although some species
jmay be now increasing more or less rapidly in
numbers, all cannot so increase, for the world
would not hold them. There is no exception to the
1mitt that every organic being naturally increases
at so high a rate, that, if not destroyed, the earth
would soon be covered by the progeny of a
single pair. Even slow-breeding man has
doubled in twenty-five yearsand at this rate,
in a few thousand years there would literally not
be standing-room for his progeny. Linnaeus has
calculated that if an annual plant produced only
two seeds—and there is no plant so unproduc-
j! tive as thisand their seedlings next year pro
duced two, and so on, then, in twenty years,
there would be a million of plants,
ij As a consequence, the weakest goes to the
j! wall; it is a race for life, with the deuce
taking the hindmost. A grain in the balance
will determine which individual shall live and
See All the Tear Bound, No. 52, p. -10.
aAIt ROUND. [.Tnij- 7,1M0.3 297
which shall die: which variety or speciesNhall
increase in number, and which shall decrease, j
or finally become extinct. The slightest ad
vantage in one being, at any age or during
any season, over those with which it comes 1
into competition, or any better adaptation in !i
however slight a degree to the surrounding
physical conditions, will tend to the preservation j
of that individual, and will generally be inhe
rited by its offspring. The offspring, also, will
thus have a better chance of surviving, for, of
the many individuals of any species which are
periodically born, but a small number cau sur
vive. This is Natural Selectiona power which i
acts during long ages, rigidly scrutinising the
whole constitution, structure, and habits of each
creaturefavouring the good and rejecting the :i
bad. Though nature grants vast periods of time
for the work of natural selection, she does not
grant an indefinite period; for as all organic
beings are si riving, it may be said, to seize on
each place in the economy of nature, if any one
species does not become modified and improved
in a corresponding degree with its competitors,
it will soon he exterminated.
Cases of adaptation which have hitherto been
attributed to design and contrivance are by this
theory regarded as the result of natural selection
only. When we see leaf-eating insects green,
and bark-feeders mottled grey, the Alpine ptar
migan white in winter, the red grouse the colour
of heather, and the black grouse that of peaty
earth, we must believe that those tints arc of
service to these birds and insects in preserving
them from danger. Grouse, if not destroyed at
some period of their lives, would increase in
countless numbersthey are known to suffer
largely from birds of prey; and hawks arc
guided by eyesight to their prey—so much so,
that on parts of the Continent persons are warned
not to keep white pigeons, as being the most
liable to destruction. Hence Mr. Darwin can
see no reason to doubt that Natural Selection I'
might be effective in giving the proper colour
to each kind of grouse, and in keeping that
colour, when once acquired, true and constant.
To make it clear how Natural Selection acts,
an imaginary illustration is given. Let us take
the case of a wolf, which preys on various
animals, securing some by craft, some by
strength, and some by flectness and let us
suppose that the fleetest prey, a deer, for in
stance, had from any change in the country in
creased iu numbers, or that other prey had de
creased in numbers, during that season of the
year when the wolf is hardest pressed for food.
Under such circumstances, there is 110 reason to
doubt that the swiftest and slimmest wolves
would have the best chance of surviving, and
so be preserved or selectedprovided always
that they retained strength to master their prey
at this or some other period of the. year, when
they might he compelled to prey on other
animals. There seems 110 more reason to doubt
this, than that man can improve the fieetness
of his greyhounds by methodical selection, or
by that unconscious selection which results from
