istheplainexpressionofthefact;’naturalselection’isametaphoricalexpressionofit，andtoacertaindegreeindirectandincorrect，since……Nature……doesnotsomuchselectspecialvarietiesasexterminatethemostunfavourableones。\"）This，however，hadnotoccurredtometillreadingyourletter。Itis，however，agreatobjectiontothistermthatitcannotbeusedasasubstantivegoverningaverb;andthatthisisarealobjectionIinferfromH。Spencercontinuallyusingthewords，naturalselection。Iformerlythought，probablyinanexaggerateddegree，thatitwasagreatadvantagetobringintoconnectionnaturalandartificialselection;thisindeedledmetouseatermincommon，andIstillthinkitsomeadvantage。IwishIhadreceivedyourlettertwomonthsago，forI
wouldhaveworkedin\"thesurvival，etc。，\"oftenintheneweditionofthe’Origin，’whichisnowalmostprintedoff，andofwhichIwillofcoursesendyouacopy。IwillusetheterminmynextbookonDomesticAnimals，etc。，fromwhich，bytheway，IplainlyseethatyouexpectMUCH，toomuch。
ThetermNaturalSelectionhasnowbeensolargelyusedabroadandathome，thatIdoubtwhetheritcouldbegivenup，andwithallitsfaultsIshouldbesorrytoseetheattemptmade。Whetheritwillberejectedmustnowdepend\"onthesurvivalofthefittest。\"Asintimethetermmustgrowintelligibletheobjectionstoitsusewillgrowweakerandweaker。I
doubtwhethertheuseofanytermwouldhavemadethesubjectintelligibletosomeminds，clearasitistoothers;fordowenotseeeventothepresentdayMalthusonPopulationabsurdlymisunderstood？ThisreflectionaboutMalthushasoftencomfortedmewhenIhavebeenvexedatthemisstatementofmyviews。AsforM。Janet（ThisnodoubtreferstoJanet’s’MaterialismeContemporain。’），heisametaphysician，andsuchgentlemenaresoacutethatIthinktheyoftenmisunderstandcommonfolk。Yourcriticismonthedoublesense（\"Ifindyouuse’NaturalSelection’intwosenses。1st，forthesimplepreservationoffavourableandrejectionofunfavourablevariations，inwhichcaseitisequivalenttothe’survivalofthefittest，’——and2ndly，fortheeffectorCHANGEproducedbythispreservation。\"ExtractfromMr。Wallace’sletterabovequoted。）inwhichI
haveusedNaturalSelectionisnewtomeandunanswerable;butmyblunderhasdonenoharm，forIdonotbelievethatanyone，exceptingyou，haseverobservedit。Again，IagreethatIhavesaidtoomuchabout\"favourablevariations;\"butIaminclinedtothinkthatyouputtheoppositesidetoostrongly;ifeverypartofeverybeingvaried，Idonotthinkweshouldseethesameend，orobject，gainedbysuchwonderfullydiversifiedmeans。