From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
22 Feb 1860
Source of text:
The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/5: 107–9)
Summary:
CD has caused a great change in HS’s views, in showing how a great proportion of adaptation should be explained by natural selection not direct adaptation to changing conditions. HS had remarked on the survival of the best individuals as a cause of improvement in man, but he "& every one" overlooked selection of spontaneous variation. Believes so many kinds of indirect evidence must add up to a conclusive demonstration of the doctrine.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project