Abstract
IN his letter of October 8, the Duke of Argyll says that he sees great value in my statement (which he improperly terms an “admission”), that natural selection cannot act upon any structure which is not already developed up to the stage of actual use. He says, “This is really all I want for my previous argument, because all organs whatever do actually pass through rudimentary stages in which actual use is impossible.” Here we have the Duke's case in a nutshell. It is easily dealt with. Firstly, what the Duke terms an “admission” on my part is an essential and explicitly stated element of Mr. Darwin's own exposition of his theory. Secondly, it is necessary for the Duke to demonstrate not that “all organs whatever,” but that some organs “do actually pass through rudimentary stages in which actual use is impossible.”
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LANKESTER, E. Prophetic Germs. Nature 38, 588 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038588c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038588c0
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