which
dives through the water; in the plumed seed which is wafted by the
gentlest breeze; in short, we see beautiful adaptations everywhere and
in every part of the organic world.

Again, it may be asked, how is it that varieties, which I have called
incipient species, become ultimately converted into good and distinct
species, which in most cases obviously differ from each other far
more than do the varieties of the same species? How do those groups of
species, which constitute what are called distinct genera, and which
differ from each other more than do the species of the same genus,
arise? All these results, as we shall more fully see in the next
chapter, follow inevitably from the struggle for life. Owing to this
struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause
proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any
species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and
to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual,
and will generally be inherited by its offspring. The offspring,
also, will thus have a better chance of surviving, for, of the many
individuals of any species which are periodically born, but a small
number can survive. I have called this principle, by which each slight
variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection,
in order to mark its relation to man's power of selection. We have seen
that man by selection can certainly produce great results, and can adapt
organic beings to his own uses, through the accumulation of slight
but useful variations, given to him by the hand of Nature. But Natural
Selection, as we shall hereafter see, is a power incessantly ready for
action, and is as immeasurably superior to man's feeble efforts, as the
works of Nature are to those of Art.

We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence.
In my future work this subject shall be treated, as it well deserves,
at much greater length. The elder De Candolle and Lyell have largely
and philosophically shown that all organic beings are exposed to severe
competition. In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject with
more spirit and ability than W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently
the result of his great horticultural knowledge. Nothing is easier than
to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more
difficult--at least I have found it so--than constantly to bear this
co