This possession of an intelligent purpose on the part of man has given him an immense advantage in that struggle for existence which lies at the basis of the Darwinian hypothesis of natural selection; and for the processes of evolution as they are today operative, this teleological factor has an exceedingly intimate and important significance.
Alfred Russell Wallace gives his very emphatic estimate of this intellectual factor of evolution in the following passage, which was first written in 1864 and which has been re-stated by Wallace in a recent article published in the Fortnightly:
"At length, however, there came into existence a being in whom the subtle force we term mind, became of more importance than his mere bodily structure. Though with a naked and unprotected body, this gave him clothing against the varying inclemencies of the seasons. Though unable to compete with the deer in swiftness or with the wild bull in strength, this gave him weapons with which to capture or overcome both. Though less capable than most other animals of living on the herbs and fruits which unaided nature supplies, this most wonderful faculty taught him to govern and direct nature to his own benefit, and make her produce food for him when and where he needed. From the moment when the first skin was used for a covering, when the first rude spear was formed to assist in the chase, when fire was first used to cook his food, when the first seed was sown, or shoot planted, a grand revolution was effected in nature, a revolution which in all the previous ages of the earth's history had had no parallel, for a being had arisen who was no longer necessarily subject to physical change with the changing universe, a being who was in some degree superior to nature, inasmuch as he knew how to control and regulate her action, and could keep himself in harmony with her, not by change in body, but by an advance in mind."[1]
Man, regarded as the child of nature, nevertheless develops a power under the influences of nature herself, which in turn commands and subdues these natural forces to his will and bidding.
Professor Osborn has designated the four inseparable factors of evolution as heredity, ontogeny , environment, and selection; vari-
- ↑ The Fortnightly Review, N. S., Jan. 1, 1908, p. 14.
