Note 10 — Chapter I · Introductory: The Darwinism of Darwin, and of the Post-Darwinian Schools.

Take, for example, the following, which is a fair epitome of the whole:—"I believe that this is the simplest mode of stating and explaining the law of variation; that some forms acquire something which their parents did not possess; and that those which acquire something additional have to pass through more numerous stages than their ancestors; and those which lose something pass through fewer stages than their ancestors; and these processes are expressed by the terms 'acceleration' and 'retardation'" (Origin of the Fittest, pp. 125, 226, and 297). Even if this be "the simplest mode of stating the law of variation," it obviously does nothing in the way of explaining the law.