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it is obvious that the power which is more direct in its 
action, more diffused in its influence, more pronounced in 
its effects, and more economical in its mode of action, 
will be the successful competitor. The transforming in 
fluence of changed conditions produces a definite effect 
upon the organism, this definite effect is seen in all the 
individuals subjected to its influence ; and, this effect 
being produced upon both parents, the transmutation is 
effected in a comparatively short time. Contrast with this 
the process of Natural Selection, as explained in theo 
retical expositions. The waiting for favourable variations 
to turn up at all, the assurance that when they do turn 
up they will occur only in a very few, and that probably 
the favourable variation will only be very slight ; the 
selection of these few slightly favourable variants by the 
death of the rest ; the output of fertility to supply new 
materials for selection with similar uncertain results,— 
this protracted and doubtful process could not possibly 
compete with the more direct action of transforming 
influences. 
But if we return to our proposition that the two 
methods of transmutation by transformation and by 
Natural Selection cannot co-operate or co-exist, we may 
further appeal to actual experience, and ask ourselves, 
—Which of these two processes is actually in evidence 
in the world of nature? Does the actual transmutation 
exhibit traces of a transforming or of a selective in 
fluence ? Advocates of the theory of Natural Selection 
assert that the parental forms remain without any modi 
fication whatever ; or that such variations, when they 
occur, are small in amount ; or that, whether large or 
small in amount, they are not inherited by offspring. 
Mr. Le Conte says that in Natural Selection “the form 
and structure are supposed to remain unchanged during