The term often leads into confusion, however, since international compact cars are somewhat larger than their North American equivalents, mostly because no supermini/subcompact size is manufactured by American, Mexican and Canadian car makers up to date.
By the late 1860's, Darwin came to describe this process as the survival of the fittest. This is very different from Lamarck's incorrect idea that the environment altered the shape of individuals and that these acquired changes were then inherited.
The social Darwinistsânotably Spencer and Walter Bagehot in England and William Graham Sumner in the United Statesâbelieved that the process of natural selection acting on variations in the population would result in the survival of the best competitors and in continuing improvement in the population.