Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11
General
Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11
Literature -- Collections
We have good reason to believe, as shown in the first chapter, that
changes in the conditions of life give a tendency to increased
variability; and in the foregoing cases the conditions have changed, and
this would manifestly be favorable to Natural Selection by affording a
better chance of the occurrence of profitable variations. Unless such
occur, Natural Selection can do nothing. Under the term of "variations,"
it must never be forgotten that mere individual differences are
included. As man can produce a great result with his domestic animals
and plants by adding up in any given direction individual differences,
so could Natural Selection, but far more easily from having incomparably
longer time for action. Nor do I believe that any great physical change,
as of climate, or any unusual degree of isolation to check immigration,
is necessary in order that new and unoccupied places should be left, for
Natural Selection to fill up by improving some of the varying
inhabitants. For as all the inhabitants of each country are struggling
together with nicely balanced forces, extremely slight modifications in
the structure or habits of one species would often give it an advantage
over others; and still further modifications of the same kind would
often still further increase the advantage, as long as the species
continued under the same conditions of life and profited by similar
means of subsistence and defense. No country can be named, in which all
the native inhabitants are now so perfectly adapted to each other and to
the physical conditions under which they live, that none of them could
be still better adapted or improved; for in all countries the natives
have been so far conquered by naturalized productions that they have
allowed some foreigners to take firm possession of the land. And as
foreigners have thus in every country beaten some of the natives, we may
safely conclude that the natives might have been modified with
advantage, so as to have better resisted the intruders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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