Darwiniana : essays / by Thomas H. Huxley.

  • Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Darwiniana : essays / by Thomas H. Huxley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of divergence from the primitive stock is reached. It is then found that by continuing the process of selection—always breeding, that is, from well- marked forms, and allowing no impure crosses to interfere—a race may be formed, the tendency of which to reproduce itself is exceedingly strong; nor is the limit to the amount of divergence which may be thus produced known; but one thing is certain, that, if certain breeds of dogs, or of pigeons, or of horses, were known only in a fossil state, no naturalist would hesitate in regarding them as distinct species. But in all these cases we have human interfer- ence. Without the breeder there would be no selection, and without the selection no race. Before admitting the possibility of natural species having originated in any similar way, it must be proved that there is in Nature some power which takes the place of man, and performs a selection sud sponte. It is the claim of Mr. Darwin that he professes to have discovered the existence and the modus- operandi of this natural selection, as he terms it; and, if he be right, the process is per- fectly simple and comprehensible, and irresistibly deducible from very familiar but well nigh for- gotten facts. Who, for instance, has duly reflected upon all the consequences of the marvellous struggle for existence which is daily and hourly going on among living beings ? Not only does every animal VOL. II C