Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/58

 Rh cautious, saying, "I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main, but not the exclusive means of modification."

From his extreme position on the effective ability of natural selection to seize upon a variation and so foster it that a new species would appear, Darwin slowly but not unwillingly receded. Ten years after the first publication of the Darwinian theory, he admitted that variations might not have been so supremely important as he supposed; in 1878 he believed in the direct action of environment in producing variations, as did Buffon; in 1880 he adopted Lamarck's theory of the use and disuse of parts. In 1881, in the "Descent of Man," Darwin lays much stress upon sexual selection, the idea that members of one sex rendered themselves particularly attractive in order to capture the attentions of their would-be mates. This, however, is really a subdivision of the natural selection idea—in the general reliability of which the famous evolutionist still believed.

As we have said, in the estimate of Darwin's general environment, the world of the middle nineteenth century did not welcome the new prophet of natural law in the natural world. Many scientists accepted Darwinism, or at least, the principle of evolution, without reserve; others made reservations; most of the