ralists who thought and spoke with Burchell of "the intention
of Nature" and the adaptation of beings "to each other, and to
the situations in which they are found," could have conceived the
possibility of evolution, they must have been led, as Darwin was, by the
same considerations to Natural Selection. This was impossible for them,
because the philosophy which they followed contemplated the phenomena of
adaptation as part of a static immutable system. Darwin, convinced that
the system is dynamic and mutable, was prevented by these very phenomena
from accepting anything short of the crowning interpretation offered by
Natural Selection. ("I had always been much struck by such adaptations
(e.g. woodpecker and tree-frog for climbing, seeds for dispersal),
and until these could be explained it seemed to me almost useless
to endeavour to prove by indirect evidence that species have been
modified." "Autobiography" in "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin", Vol.
I. page 82. The same thought is repeated again and again in Darwin's
letters to his friends. It is forcibly urged in the Introduction to
the "Origin" (1859), page 3.) And the birth of Darwin's unalterable
conviction that adaptation is of dominant importance in the organic
world,--a conviction confirmed and ever again confirmed by his
experience as a naturalist--may probably be traced to the influence of
the great theologian. Thus Darwin, speaking of his Undergraduate days,
tells us in his "Autobiography" that the logic of Paley's "Evidences
of Christianity" and "Moral Philosophy" gave him as much delight as did
Euclid.

"The careful study of these works, without attempting to learn any part
by rote, was the only part of the academical course which, as I then
felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education
of my mind. I did not at that time trouble myself about Paley's
premises; and taking these on trust, I was charmed and convinced by the
long line of argumentation." ("Life and Letters", I. page 47.)

When Darwin came to write the "Origin" he quoted in relation to Natural
Selection one of Paley's conclusions. "No organ will be formed, as Paley
has remarked, for the purpose of causing pain or for doing an injury to
its possessor." ("Origin of Species" (1st edition) 1859, page 201.)

The study of adaptation always had for Darwin, as it has for many,
a peculiar charm. His words, written Nov. 28, 1880, to Sir W.
Thiselton-Dyer, are by no means ina