"[46] But no proof whatever is offered of
this statement, and it is so entirely opposed to all we know of the
facts of variation as given by Darwin himself, that the important word
"all" is probably an oversight.
On the whole, then, I submit, not only has it not been proved that an
"enormous number of specific peculiarities" are useless, and that, as a
logical result, natural selection is "not a theory of the origin of
species," but only of the origin of adaptations which are usually
common to many species, or, more commonly, to genera and families; but,
I urge further, it has not even been proved that any truly "specific"
characters--those which either singly or in combination distinguish each
species from its nearest allies--are entirely unadaptive, useless, and
meaningless; while a great body of facts on the one hand, and some
weighty arguments on the other, alike prove that specific characters
have been, and could only have been, developed and fixed by natural
selection because of their utility. We may admit, that among the great
number of variations and sports which continually arise many are
altogether useless without being hurtful; but no cause or influence has
been adduced adequate to render such characters fixed and constant
throughout the vast number of individuals which constitute any of the
more dominant species.
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