III

III.--His theory of the constituents of Happiness is simple, primitive,
and crude, but is given with earnest conviction. Ambition he laughs to
scorn. "What, he asks, can be added to the happiness of the man who is
in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?" Again, "the chief
part of happiness consists in the consciousness of being beloved,
hence, sudden changes of fortune seldom contribute to happiness." But
what he dwells upon most persistently, as the prime condition of
happiness, is Contentment, and Tranquillity.

As a theory of adaptation, then, natural selection is

satisfactory only in so far as it accounts for the
'preservation of favored races
As a theory of adaptation, then, natural selection is
satisfactory only in so far as it accounts for the
'preservation of favored races.' It throws no light upon the
origin of the variations with which races are favored. Since it
is only as variations possess a certain utility for the
organism that they become known as adaptations, the conception
of adaptation is inevitably associated with the welfare of
individuals or the survival of races. To disregard this
association is to rob the conception of all meaning. Like
health, it has no elementary physiological significance.