3 uses
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Definition
natural process whereby members of a species who have the most surviving offspring pass their traits on to the next generation such that future generations have inherited characteristics that better adapt them to the environment than prior generations
- Now by the action of natural selection, all terrestrial plants have acquired a resisting power against bacterial diseases—they never succumb without a severe struggle, but the red weed rotted like a thing already dead.2.6 — Book 2 Chapter 6 — The Work of Fifteen Days (50% in)
- He pointed out—writing in a foolish, facetious tone—that the perfection of mechanical appliances must ultimately supersede limbs; the perfection of chemical devices, digestion; that such organs as hair, external nose, teeth, ears, and chin were no longer essential parts of the human being, and that the tendency of natural selection would lie in the direction of their steady diminution through the coming ages.2.2 — Book 2 Chapter 2 — What We Saw from the Ruined House (62% in)
- But by virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb without a struggle, and to many—those that cause putrefaction in dead matter, for instance—our living frames are altogether immune.2.8 — Book 2 Chapter 8 — Dead London (70% in)
There are no more uses of "natural selection" in The War of the Worlds.
Typical Usage
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