CHAPTER VII. 
MIXED DARWINISM. 
THE TRANSFORMING AND THE SELECTING INFLUENCE OF 
CHANGED CONDITIONS. 
“ Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis.” 
“ In unison at times, 
And then apart again, 
And both in one have brought us hither.” 
—Palgrave. The Reign of Law. 
By the phrase, mixed Darwinism, we must understand 
the affirmation that there are many possible methods by 
which the transmutation of species can be brought about. 
We have already shown that if there is a transmutation 
of species by Natural Selection, there is nothing incon 
sistent with that fact in supposing that there may be 
other methods also. For if there are variations necessarily 
associated with reproduction which require selection, there 
may be variations occasionally associated with reproduction 
which do not require the principle of selection. If the 
principle of selection be necessary, there may be other 
modes of selection in nature besides that accomplished 
by life and death. And in point of fact, we find that 
such phenomena do exist, and, so far, the belief in mixed 
Darwinism is perfectly reasonable, supposing that there 
is such a thing as Natural Selection at all. 
But it is not of these matters that we think chiefly 
when we speak of mixed Darwinism. That phrase more