ed a deliberate design
on the part of God. Against this Darwinism propounds a theory of
automatic or mechanical adjustment which makes the calling in of deity
altogether gratuitous. And it remains gratuitous, no matter how far the
scope of the theory of natural selection may be modified. But given the
continuous variations which we know to exist with all kinds of life,
given any sort of competition between animals as to which shall live,
given even a degree of adaptation below which an animal cannot fall and
live, and it is at once plain that the better adaptations will live and
the poorer adapted will be eliminated. This process is analogous to that
by which man has managed to breed so many varieties of domesticated
animals and plants, some of the varieties presenting so marked a
difference from the original type that if found in a state of nature
they would often be classed as a distinct species. Man _selects_ the
variation that pleases him, eliminates or segregates the type that does
not, and by following up the process eventually produces a distinct and
fixed variation. It was because of the likeness of what goes on in the
case of the breeder to what we see actually going on in nature that
Darwin used the phrase "Natural Selection" as descriptive of the
process. It was not an exact phrase, and it was not meant to be exact.
For one thing--a very important thing, while a breeder selects, nature
eliminates. Man's action, in relation to the type preserved, is
positive. Nature's attitude in relation to the type preserved is
negative. This is a very important distinction; and it is one that is
fatal to the claims of theism. For if it points to a plan in nature it
points to one that aims at killing off all that can be killed, and only
sparing those who are able to protect themselves against its attack. And
one is left wondering at the type of mind which can see goodness and
wisdom in a plan that goes, on generation, after generation
manufacturing an inferior or defective type in enormous numbers in order
that a few superior specimens may be found, these in their turn to
become inferior by the arrival of some other specimens a little more
fortunate in their endowment. One hardly knows at which to marvel the
most--at the clumsiness of the plan, or at the brutality of the design.

It was soon realised that the old argument from design was no longer
possible. But if one can only get far enough away from the possibility
of proo