Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/207

Rh Therefore, while it is clear that the races which adhere to that one Church have not a monopoly of genius, it is clear that in that Church alone is it allowed free play, or comparatively free play.

I have now finished the introductory portion of my work, and may in comfort proceed with my proper theme, the Present Evolution of Man. The ground is cleared, and I have by anticipation met some objections which would otherwise have been raised. The three main facts I have endeavoured to drive home have been—(1) that every species must necessarily undergo retrogression, unless that retrogression be checked by selection; (2) that in such a high multicellular organism as man acquired variations cannot be transmitted; and (3) that in such an organism living amidst immensely complex and heterogeneous surroundings, the action of Natural Selection has been mainly to develop so extraordinary a power of varying in response to appropriate stimulation, direct or indirect, from the environment, such a remarkable power of individually acquiring fit variations, that very much, indeed by far the greatest part of the characteristics of such a high organism are due to stimulation acting on this power to vary, are variations acquired by the individual, but variations which are not transmissible. Therefore, though acquired variations are not transmissible, yet the variations acquired by every "normal" individual have a magnitude and importance far beyond that which is commonly attributed to them by biologists, who usually measure a variation by the amount of its deviation from the "normal" standard, forgetting that the normal standard of development itself is only attained as a result of longcontinued stimulation acting on the inborn power to vary, and therefore that the structures, physical and mental, of normal individuals, being in great measure a bundle of