adaptation, adaption

[In Fr. adaptation.) A. Generally: The act of adapting, adjusting, or fitting to the state of being adapted, adjusted, or fitted to the thing adjusted. "Its [the eye's] capacity of adaptation, under the influence of the will, to distinct vision at every distance beyond that of a few inches."-Todd & Bowman: Physiol. Anat . , ii. 47. B. Technically : Darwin ism: The capability of acquiring new characters; also the new characters acquired by a living being through the operation of the external conditions of life under which it is placed. "They can hardly be due to adaptations within a late period."-Darwin: Descent ent of Man , pt. i., ch. vi. more perfect adaptation to the external conditions of life. " -Ibid . , pt. ii., ch. viii. ad-apt-ed, pa. par . & a. [ADAPT.] "But in the case of an island, or of a country partly surrounded by barriers, into which new and adapted forms could not freely enter Darwin: Orig. of Species, ch. iv.