any one of them. The spade-like foot of the
mole is not "more useful" than the form of foot which probably preceded it
(_cf._ Goette), it is merely "different." For when the mole took to
burrowing in the earth and adapting itself to that mode of life, it _ipso
facto_ forfeited all the advantages of living above ground. The postulated
myriads of less well-adapted forms of life are no more to be found to-day
than they are in the fauna and flora of palaeontological times. The famous
giraffe story has already been disposed of by Mivart's objections. As to
the whales, it is objected that the earliest stages of their whalebone and
their exaggerated nakedness can have been of no use, and a series of other
alleged selective effects of "utility" are critically analysed. The
refutation of the most brilliant chapter in the Darwinian theory, that on
protective coloration and mimicry, is very insufficient. A long concluding
chapter sums up the fundamental defects of the Darwinian theory.

For the most part, Fleischmann simply brings forward objections which have
been urged against the theory of selection from the first, either by
naturalists or from other quarters. The chief and the most fatal of these
which are still current are the following: The theory of selection does
not explain the actually existing discontinuity of species. The real
characteristics which distinguish species from species are in innumerable
cases quite indifferent from the point of view of "utility" (Naegeli,
Bateson). "Selection preserves the good and weeds out the bad." But where
does the good come from? (De Vries). The first beginnings of what may
later be useful are almost always useless. The theory of selection might
perhaps explain the useful qualities, but not the superfluous, useless, or
directly injurious characters which actually exist. Confirmation of the
theory of descent may be found in the palaeontological record, but it
affords none of the theory of selection. Natural selection is continually
being neutralised by subsequent inter-crossing and reversion. Natural
selection may indeed prevent degeneration within the limits of the species
by weeding out what is weak and bad, but it is powerless beyond these
limits, and so forth.(42)

These ever-repeated and ever-increasing objections are purely critical. As
this is true of Fleischmann's whole book, it is therefore unsatisfactory.
It leaves everything in the mist, and puts nothing in place of what it