Darwinism, itself, is the belief that the different species originated not only one from another, but that the difference now existing between one species and another is due to the slow accumulation of those minute particulars in which children do _not_ resemble their parents; and further that these differences were preserved and added one to another through succeeding generations because they were useful from the first, increasing the likelihood that their possessors would survive and breed; while those not born with these variations, or had variations which were useless or perhaps harmful, would be killed off in the struggle for existence. This selection of fortunate individuals in a world where there is not room enough for all is called “natural selection,” and variations which increase the chances of survival are said to have a “survival-value.” Darwin did not pretend to know what caused variations. Darwinism is merely the theory that species originate by the accumulation of useful variations through natural selection, and that intermediate forms then die out, leaving gaps. Were none of the links missing from the record Darwin believed that it would now be impossible to tell where one species began and another left off. The hypothesis itself was but a variation of an older one. Lamarck had taught that species originated gradually, but he held that it was chiefly through the inheritance of “acquired characters.” Now an acquired character is something we are not born with, as for example, the ability to play the piano; and if it could have been proved that such acquirements descend from parent to child, Lamarckianism would have had smoother sailing. But great pianists persist in having children born without the ability to play the piano, children who have to begin at the beginning just as the great pianists themselves did. Every effort has been made to demonstrate the contrary, but the facts are stubborn. The best that can be said for the theory of the inheritance of acquired characters is that, in some instances, if a single character is acquired by a sufficient number of generations there is a slight possibility that eventually it may begin to leave some trace of a hereditary nature. Hundreds of generations of rats have had their tails cut off without producing a natural-born tailless rat. What looks like the inheritance of an acquired character always turns out to be a phenomenon which can be accounted for by early education. The Bach family was a family of wonderful musicians, but the Bach children all received the best of musical training from the moment they could begin to lisp.