PDF - Wallace Online

166 NATURAL SELECTIONwhat, on Darwin's theory, the ancestors of existing animalsought to be and; this, it must be remembered, is the evidenceof one of the strongest opponents of the theory of naturalselection.ConclusionI have thus endeavoured to meet fairly, and to answerplainly, a few of the most common objections to the theory ofnatural selection, and I have done so in every case by referringto admitted facts and to logical deductions from thosefacts.As an indication and general summary of the line ofargument I have adopted, I here give a brief demonstrationin a tabular form of the Origin of Species by means of NaturalSelection, referring for the facts to Mr. Darwin's works, andto the pages in this volume, where they are more or less fullytreated.A Demonstration of the Origin of Species by Natural SelectionPROVED FACTSNECESSARY CONSEQUENCESTOTAL NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALSSTATIONARY, p. 23.STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.HEREDITY WITH VARIATION, orgeneral likeness with individualdifferences of parents and offsprings,pp. 142, 156, 179 (Originof Species, chaps, i. ii. v.)(afterwards taken as Proved Facts)thedeaths equalling the births onthe average, p. 24 (Origin ofSpecies, chap. iii. )SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, orNatural Selection ; meaning,simply, that on the whole thosedie who are least fitted to maintaintheir existence (Origin ofSpecies, chap, iv.)SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.CHANGE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS,universal and unceasing. SeeLyell's Principles of Geology.CHANGES OF ORGANIC FORMS, tokeep them in harmony with theChanged Conditions and as the;changes of conditions are permanentchanges, in the sense of notreverting back to identical previousconditions, the changes oforganic forms must be in thesame sense permanent, and thus.originate SPECIES.