The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

LIFE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. 141%~L?tent the duration of past geological periods.IWith my mind thus prepared, I fortunatelyhappened to read Malthus's Essay on Popula- ,tiolz; and the idea of natural selection throughthe struggle for existence at once occurred tome. Of all the subordinate points in thetheory, the last which I understood was thecause of the tendency in the descendants froma common progenitor to divevge in character." *This short passage in personal history mayconsiderably aid others in their study of thetheory.This letter may with advantage be supplementedby one or two brief extracts from TheOrigin of #pecies. In one of his most recenteditions, our author sa.ys,-" It may be metaphoricallysaid, that !latural selcctiorl is dailyand hourly scrutinizing throughout the worldthe slightest variatioas, rejecting those thatare bad, preserving and adding up all thatare good; silently and insensibly working,whenever and wherever opportunity offers,at the improvement of each organic being inrelation to its organic and inorganic condi-*The passage is quoted rts given by Schmidt in his Doctrineof Descent, p. 132. Italics are inserted to guide the eye of thereader to the suocessive stages.