Page 73 - The Evolution Impasse 2

Natural Selection 71

this pred a tor pres sure lasts, the deer can not evolve by way of nat u ral se -
will nev er turn in to any oth er spe - lec tion.
cies. Weak deer are elim i nat ed and Darwin ad mit ted as much when
the fit test sur vive; but no "ev o lu tion" he wrote, "Natural se lec tion can do
of spe cies takes place, be cause there noth ing un til fa vour a ble in di vid u al
is no change in the deer's ge net ic in - dif fer en ces or var i a tions oc cur." 69
for ma tion. No mat ter how much Natural se lec tion was a nat u ral
herds of deer are sub ject ed to nat u - phe nom e non known to bi ol o gists
ral se lec tion, they will still re main be fore Darwin, but de scribed as a
deer. mech a nism that en a bles spe cies to
This ex am ple ap plies to all oth er re main sta ble with out be ing im -
spe cies. Deformed or weak in di vid - paired. It was Darwin who first
u als in a pop u la tion, or those un fit - claimed that this proc ess was an ev -
ted to en vi ron men tal con di tions are o lu tion a ry force and thus con struct -
elim i nat ed by way of nat u ral se lec - ed his whole the o ry on that ba sis.
tion. But no new spe cies, ge net ic in - The name he gave his book—The
for ma tion or or gans will emerge as a Origin of Species, By Way of Natural
re sult. In oth er words, liv ing things Selection—shows that nat u ral se lec -

No mat ter how much deers are sub -
ject ed to nat u ral se lec tion, they will
al ways give birth to more deer.