,this e,book was converted to ,,html1   
with additional editing1 by ,jose       
,menendez  from the text edition        
produced by ,amy ,e4 ,zelmer4           
,the ,darwinian ,hypothesis99    by     
,thomas ,h4 ,huxley        ,,darwin ,,on
 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,species4         
,,there is a growing immensity in the   
speculations of science to which no     
human thing or thought at this day is   
comparable4 ,apart from the  results    
which science brings us home and        
securely harvests1 there is an          
expansive force and latitude in its     
tentative efforts1 which lifts us  out  
of ourselves and transfigures our       
mortality4 ,we may have a  preference   
for moral themes1 like the ,homeric     
sage1 who had seen and  known much3--   
8,cities of men       ,and manners1     
climates1 councils1 governments02    yet
 we must end by confession that         
8,the windy ways of men       ,are but  
dust which rises up       ,and is       
lightly laid again10    in comparison   

with the work of nature1 to which       
science testifies1 but  which has no    
boundaries in time or space to which    
science can  approximate4    ,there is  
something altogether out of the reach of
 science1 and yet the  compass of       
science is practically illimitable4     
,hence it is that from  time to time we 
are startled and perplexed by theories  
which have no  parallel in the          
contracted moral world2 for the         
generalizations of  science sweep on in 
ever-widening circles1 and more aspiring
 flights1  through a limitless creation4
 ,while astronomy1 with its telescope1  
ranges beyond the known stars1 and      
physiology1 with its microscope1 is     
subdividing infinite minutiae1 we may   
expect that our historic  centuries may 
be treated as inadequate counters in the
 history of the  planet on which we are 
placed4 ,we must expect new conceptions 
of the  nature and relations of its     
denizens1 as science acquires the       
materials  for fresh generalizations2   

nor have we occasion for alarms if a    
highly  advanced knowledge1 like that of
 the eminent ,naturalist before us1     
confronts us with an hypothesis as vast 
as it is novel4 ,this hypothesis  may or
 may not be sustainable hereafter2 it   
may give way to something  else1 and    
higher science may reverse what science 
has here built up  with so much skill   
and patience1 but its sufficiency must  
be tried by  the tests of science alone1
 if we are to maintain our position as  
the  heirs of ,bacon and the acquitters 
of ,galileo4 ,we must weigh this        
hypothesis strictly in the controversy  
which is coming1 by the only  tests     
which are appropriate1 and by no others 
whatsoever4    ,the hypothesis to which 
we point1 and of which the present work 
of ,mr4  ,darwin is but the preliminary 
outline1 may be stated in his own       
language as follows3--8,species         
originated by means of natural          
selection1  or through the preservation 
of the favoured races in the struggle   

for  life40 ,to render this thesis      
intelligible1 it is necessary to        
interpret  its terms4 ,in the first     
place1 what is a species8 ,the question 
is a  simple one1 but the right answer  
to it is hard to find1 even if we       
appeal to those who should know most    
about it4 ,it is all those animals  or  
plants which have descended from a      
single pair of parents2 it is the       
smallest distinctly definable group of  
living organisms2 it is an  eternal and 
immutable entity2 it is a mere          
abstraction of the human  intellect     
having no existence in nature4 ,such are
 a few of the  significations attached  
to this simple word which may be culled 
from  authoritative sources2 and if1    
leaving terms and theoretical subtleties
  aside1 we turn to facts and endeavour 
to gather a meaning for  ourselves1 by  
studying the things to which1 in        
practice1 the name of  species is       
applied1 it profits us little4 ,for     
practice varies as much  as theory4 ,let

 the botanist or the zoologist examine  
and describe the  productions of a      
country1 and one will pretty certainly  
disagree with  the other as to the      
number1 limits1 and definitions of the  
species into  which he groups the very  
same things4 ,in these islands1 we are  
in the  habit of regarding mankind as of
 one species1 but a fortnight's steam   
will land us in a country where divines 
and savants1 for once in  agreement1 vie
 with one another in loudness of        
assertion1 if not in  cogency of proof1 
that men are of different species2 and1 
more  particularly1 that the species    
negro is so distinct from our own that  
the ,ten ,commandments have actually no 
reference to him4 ,even in the  calm    
region of entomology1 where1 if anywhere
 in this sinful world1  passion and     
prejudice should fail to stir the mind1 
one learned  coleopterist will fill ten 
attractive volumes with descriptions of 
species of beetles1 nine-tenths of which
 are immediately declared by  his       

brother beetle-mongers to be no species 
at all4    ,the truth is that the number
 of distinguishable living creatures    
almost  surpasses imagination4 ,at least
 a hundred thousand such kinds of       
insects alone have been described and   
may be identified in collections1  and  
the number of separable kinds of living 
things is underestimated at  half a     
million4 ,seeing that most of these     
obvious kinds have their  accidental    
varieties1 and that they often shade    
into others by  imperceptible degrees1  
it may well be imagined that the task of
  distinguishing between what is        
permanent and what fleeting1 what is a  
species and what a mere variety1 is     
sufficiently formidable4    ,but is it  
not possible to apply a test whereby a  
true species may be  known from a mere  
variety8 ,is there no criterion of      
species8 ,great  authorities affirm that
 there is--that the unions of members of
 the same  species are always fertile1  
while those of distinct species are     

either  sterile1 or their offspring1    
called hybrids1 are so4 ,it is affirmed 
not  only that this is an experimental  
fact1 but that it is a provision for    
the preservation of the purity of       
species4 ,such a criterion as this      
would be invaluable2 but1 unfortunately1
 not only is it not obvious how  to     
apply it in the great majority of cases 
in which its aid is needed1  but its    
general validity is stoutly denied4 ,the
 ,hon4 and ,rev4 ,mr4  ,herbert1 a most 
trustworthy authority1 not only asserts 
as the result  of his own observations  
and experiments that many hybrids are   
quite as  fertile as the parent species1
 but he goes so far as to assert that   
the  particular plant ,crinum capense is
 much more fertile when crossed by  a   
distinct species than when fertilised by
 its proper pollen6 ,on the  other hand1
 the famous ,gaertner1 though he took   
the greatest pains to  cross the        
primrose and the cowslip1 succeeded only
 once or twice in  several years2 and   

yet it is a well-established fact that  
the primrose  and the cowslip are only  
varieties of the same kind of plant4    
,again1  such cases as the following are
 well established4 ,the female of       
species  ,a1 if crossed with the male of
 species ,b1 is fertile2 but1 if the    
female of ,b is crossed with the male of
 ,a1 she remains barren4 ,facts of  this
 kind destroy the value of the supposed 
criterion4    ,if1 weary of the endless 
difficulties involved in the            
determination of  species1 the          
investigator1 contenting himself with   
the rough practical  distinction of     
separable kinds1 endeavours to study    
them as they occur  in nature--to       
ascertain their relations to the        
conditions which surround  them1 their  
mutual harmonies and discordances of    
structure1 the bond of  union of their  
parts and their past history1 he finds  
himself1  according to the received     
notions1 in a mighty maze1 and with1 at 
most1  the dimmest adumbration of a     

plan4 ,if he starts with any one clear  
conviction1 it is that every part of a  
living creature is cunningly  adapted to
 some special use in its life4 ,has not 
his ,paley told him  that that seemingly
 useless organ1 the spleen1 is          
beautifully adjusted  as so much packing
 between the other organs8 ,and yet1 at 
the outset of  his studies1 he finds    
that no adaptive reason whatsoever can  
be given  for one-half of the           
peculiarities of vegetable structure2 he
 also  discovers rudimentary teeth1     
which are never used1 in the gums of the
  young calf and in those of the foetal 
whale2 insects which never bite  have   
rudimental jaws1 and others which never 
fly have rudimental wings2  naturally   
blind creatures have rudimental eyes2   
and the halt have  rudimentary limbs4   
,so1 again1 no animal or plant puts on  
its perfect  form at once1 but all have 
to start from the same point1 however   
various the course which each has to    
pursue4 ,not only men and horses1  and  

cats and dogs1 lobsters and beetles1    
periwinkles and mussels1 but  even the  
very sponges and animalcules commence   
their existence under  forms which are  
essentially undistinguishable2 and this 
is true of all  the infinite variety of 
plants4 ,nay1 more1 all living beings   
march side  by side along the high road 
of development1 and separate the later  
the  more like they are2 like people    
leaving church1 who all go down the     
aisle1 but having reached the door some 
turn into the parsonage1 others  go down
 the village1 and others part only in   
the next parish4 ,a man in  his         
development runs for a little while     
parallel with1 though never  passing    
through1 the form of the meanest worm1  
then travels for a space  beside the    
fish1 then journeys along with the bird 
and the reptile for  his fellow         
travellers2 and only at last1 after a   
brief companionship  with the highest of
 the four-footed and four-handed world1 
rises into  the dignity of pure manhood4

 ,no competent thinker of the present   
day  dreams of explaining these         
indubitable facts by the notion of the  
existence of unknown and undiscoverable 
adaptations to purpose4 ,and we  would  
remind those who1 ignorant of the facts1
 must be moved by  authority1 that no   
one has asserted the incompetence of the
 doctrine of  final causes1 in its      
application to physiology and anatomy1  
more  strongly than our own eminent     
anatomist1 ,professor ,owen1 who1       
speaking  of such cases1 says 7,on the  
,nature of ,limbs1 pp4 #ci1 #dj73 8,i   
think it  will be obvious that the      
principle of final adaptations fails to 
satisfy all the conditions of the       
problem40    ,but1 if the doctrine of   
final causes will not help us to        
comprehend the  anomalies of living     
structure1 the principle of adaptation  
must surely  lead us to understand why  
certain living beings are found in      
certain  regions of the world and not in
 others4 ,the palm1 as we know1 will not

  grow in our climate1 nor the oak in   
,greenland4 ,the white bear cannot  live
 where the tiger thrives1 nor vice      
versa1 and the more the  natural habits 
of animal and vegetable species are     
examined1 the more  do they seem1 on the
 whole1 limited to particular provinces4
 ,but when  we look into the facts      
established by the study of the         
geographical  distribution of animals   
and plants it seems utterly hopeless to 
attempt  to understand the strange and  
apparently capricious relations which   
they exhibit4 ,one would be inclined to 
suppose a priori that every  country    
must be naturally peopled by those      
animals that are fittest to  live and   
thrive in it4 ,and yet how1 on this     
hypothesis1 are we to  account for the  
absence of cattle in the ,pampas of     
,south ,america1 when  those parts of   
the ,new ,world were discovered8 ,it is 
not that they were  unfit for cattle1   
for millions of cattle now run wild     
there2 and the  like holds good of      

,australia and ,new ,zealand4 ,it is a  
curious  circumstance1 in fact1 that the
 animals and plants of the ,northern    
,hemisphere are not only as well adapted
 to live in the ,southern  ,hemisphere  
as its own autochthones1 but are in many
 cases absolutely  better adapted1 and  
so overrun and extirpate the aborigines4
 ,clearly1  therefore1 the species which
 naturally inhabit a country are not    
necessarily the best adapted to its     
climate and other conditions4 ,the      
inhabitants of islands are often        
distinct from any other known species   
of animal or plants 7witness our recent 
examples from the work of ,sir  ,emerson
 ,tennent1 on ,ceylon71 and yet they    
have almost always a sort of  general   
family resemblance to the animals and   
plants of the nearest  mainland4 ,on the
 other hand1 there is hardly a species  
of fish1 shell1  or crab common to the  
opposite sides of the narrow isthmus of 
,panama4  ,wherever we look1 then1      
living nature offers us riddles of      

difficult  solution1 if we suppose that 
what we see is all that can be known of 
it4    ,but our knowledge of life is not
 confined to the existing world4        
,whatever their minor differences1      
geologists are agreed as to the vast    
thickness of the accumulated strata     
which compose the visible part of  our  
earth1 and the inconceivable immensity  
of the time of whose lapse  they are the
 imperfect1 but the only accessible     
witnesses4 ,now1  throughout the greater
 part of this long series of stratified 
rocks are  scattered1 sometimes very    
abundantly1 multitudes of organic       
remains1  the fossilized exuviae of     
animals and plants which lived and died 
while  the mud of which the rocks are   
formed was yet soft ooze1 and could     
receive and bury them4 ,it would be a   
great error to suppose that these       
organic remains were fragmentary relics4
 ,our museums exhibit fossil  shells of 
immeasurable antiquity1 as perfect as   
the day they were  formed1 whole        

skeletons without a limb disturbed--nay1
 the changed  flesh1 the developing     
embryos1 and even the very footsteps of 
primeval  organisms4 ,thus the          
naturalist finds in the bowels of the   
earth species  as well defined as1 and  
in some groups of animals more numerous 
than1  those that breathe the upper air4
 ,but1 singularly enough1 the majority  
of these entombed species are wholly    
distinct from those that now live4  ,nor
 is this unlikeness without its rule and
 order4 ,as a broad fact1 the  further  
we go back in time the less the buried  
species are like  existing forms2 and   
the further apart the sets of extinct   
creatures are  the less they are like   
one another4 ,in other words1 there has 
been a  regular succession of living    
beings1 each younger set being in a very
  broad and general sense somewhat more 
like those which now live4    ,it was   
once supposed that this succession had  
been the result of vast  successive     
catastrophes1 destructions1 and         

re-creations en masse2 but  catastrophes
 are now almost eliminated from         
geological1 or at least                 
palaeontological speculation2 and it is 
admitted on all hands that the  seeming 
breaks in the chain of being are not    
absolute1 but only  relative to our     
imperfect knowledge2 that species have  
replaced  species1 not in assemblages1  
but one by one2 and that1 if it were    
possible to have all the phenomena of   
the past presented to us1 the           
convenient epochs and formations of the 
geologist1 though having a  certain     
distinctness1 would fade into one       
another with limits as  undefinable as  
those of the distinct and yet separable 
colours of the  solar spectrum4    ,such
 is a brief summary of the main truths  
which have been established  concerning 
species4 ,are these truths ultimate and 
irresolvable facts1  or are their       
complexities and perplexities the mere  
expressions of a  higher law8    ,a     
large number of persons practically     

assume the former position to be        
correct4 ,they believe that the writer  
of the ,pentateuch was empowered  and   
commissioned to teach us scientific as  
well as other truth1 that  the account  
we find there of the creation of living 
things is simply  and literally correct1
 and that anything which seems to       
contradict it  is1 by the nature of the 
case1 false4 ,all the phenomena which   
have been  detailed are1 on this view1  
the immediate product of a creative fiat
  and consequently are out of the domain
 of science altogether4    ,whether this
 view prove ultimately to be true or    
false1 it is1 at any  rate1 not at      
present supported by what is commonly   
regarded as logical  proof1 even if it  
be capable of discussion by reason2 and 
hence we  consider ourselves at liberty 
to pass it by1 and to turn to those     
views  which profess to rest on a       
scientific basis only1 and therefore    
admit  of being argued to their         
consequences4 ,and we do this with the  

less  hesitation as it so happens that  
those persons who are practically       
conversant with the facts of the case   
7plainly a considerable  advantage7 have
 always thought fit to range themselves 
under the latter  category4    ,the     
majority of these competent persons have
 up to the present time  maintained two 
positions1--the first1 that every       
species is1 within  certain defined or  
definable limits1 fixed and incapable of
  modification2 the second1 that every  
species was originally produced by  a   
distinct creative act4 ,the second      
position is obviously incapable of      
proof or disproof1 the direct operations
 of the ,creator not being  subjects of 
science2 and it must therefore be       
regarded as a corollary  from the first1
 the truth or falsehood of which is a   
matter of  evidence4 ,most persons      
imagine that the arguments in favour of 
it are  overwhelming2 but to some few   
minds1 and these1 it must be confessed1 
intellects of no small power and grasp  

of knowledge1 they have not  brought    
conviction4 ,among these minds1 that of 
the famous naturalist  ,lamarck1 who    
possessed a greater acquaintance with   
the lower forms of  life than any man of
 his day1 ,cuvier not excepted1 and was 
a good  botanist to boot1 occupies a    
prominent place4    ,two facts appear to
 have strongly affected the course of   
thought of  this remarkable man--the    
one1 that finer or stronger links of    
affinity  connect all living beings with
 one another1 and that thus the highest 
creature grades by multitudinous steps  
into the lowest2 the other1 that  an    
organ may be developed in particular    
directions by exerting itself  in       
particular ways1 and that modifications 
once induced may be  transmitted and    
become hereditary4 ,putting these facts 
together1  ,lamarck endeavoured to      
account for the first by the operation  
of the  second4 ,place an animal in new 
circumstances1 says he1 and its needs   
will be altered2 the new needs will     

create new desires1 and the attempt  to 
gratify such desires will result in an  
appropriate modification of  the organs 
exerted4 ,make a man a blacksmith1 and  
his brachial muscles  will develop in   
accordance with the demands made upon   
them1 and in like  manner1 says         
,lamarck1 8the efforts of some          
short-necked bird to catch  fish without
 wetting himself have1 with time and    
perseverance1 given  rise to all our    
herons and long-necked waders40    ,the 
,lamarckian hypothesis has long since   
been justly condemned1 and it  is the   
established practice for every tyro to  
raise his heel against  the carcass of  
the dead lion4 ,but it is rarely either 
wise or  instructive to treat even the  
errors of a really great man with mere  
ridicule1 and in the present case the   
logical form of the doctrine  stands on 
a very different footing from its       
substance4    ,if species have really   
arisen by the operation of natural      
conditions1  we ought to be able to find

 those conditions now at work2 we ought 
to  be able to discover in nature some  
power adequate to modify any given  kind
 of animal or plant in such a manner as 
to give rise to another  kind1 which    
would be admitted by naturalists as a   
distinct species4  ,lamarck imagined    
that he had discovered this vera causa  
in the  admitted facts that some organs 
may be modified by exercise2 and that   
modifications1 once produced1 are       
capable of hereditary transmission4  ,it
 does not seem to have occurred to him  
to inquire whether there is  any reason 
to believe that there are any limits to 
the amount of  modification producible1 
or to ask how long an animal is likely  
to  endeavour to gratify an impossible  
desire4 ,the bird1 in our example1      
would surely have renounced fish dinners
 long before it had produced  the least 
effect on leg or neck4    ,since        
,lamarck's time1 almost all competent   
naturalists have left  speculations on  
the origin of species to such dreamers  

as the author of  the 8,vestiges10 by   
whose well-intentioned efforts the      
,lamarckian theory  received its final  
condemnation in the minds of all sound  
thinkers4  ,notwithstanding this        
silence1 however1 the transmutation     
theory1 as it  has been called1 has been
 a 8skeleton in the closet0 to many an  
honest  zoologist and botanist who had a
 soul above the mere naming of dried    
plants and skins4 ,surely1 has such an  
one thought1 nature is a mighty  and    
consistent whole1 and the providential  
order established in the  world of life 
must1 if we could only see it rightly1  
be consistent with  that dominant over  
the multiform shapes of brute matter4   
,but what is  the history of astronomy1 
of all the branches of physics1 of      
chemistry1  of medicine1 but a narration
 of the steps by which the human mind   
has  been compelled1 often sorely       
against its will1 to recognize the      
operation of secondary causes in events 
where ignorance beheld an  immediate    

intervention of a higher power8 ,and    
when we know that living  things are    
formed of the same elements as the      
inorganic world1 that  they act and     
react upon it1 bound by a thousand ties 
of natural piety1  is it probable1 nay  
is it possible1 that they1 and they     
alone1 should  have no order in their   
seeming disorder1 no unity in their     
seeming  multiplicity1 should suffer no 
explanation by the discovery of some    
central and sublime law of mutual       
connexion8    ,questions of this kind   
have assuredly often arisen1 but it     
might have  been long before they       
received such expression as would have  
commanded  the respect and attention of 
the scientific world1 had it not been   
for  the publication of the work which  
prompted this article4 ,its author1     
,mr4 ,darwin1 inheritor of a once       
celebrated name1 won his spurs in       
science when most of those now          
distinguished were young men1 and has   
for the last #bj years held a place in  

the front ranks of ,british             
philosophers4 ,after a circumnavigatory 
voyage1 undertaken solely for  the love 
of his science1 ,mr4 ,darwin published a
 series of researches  which at once    
arrested the attention of naturalists   
and geologists2 his  generalizations    
have since received ample confirmation1 
and now command  universal assent1 nor  
is it questionable that they have had   
the most  important influence on the    
progress of science4 ,more recently ,mr4
  ,darwin1 with a versatility which is  
among the rarest of gifts1 turned  his  
attention to a most difficult question  
of zoology and minute  anatomy2 and no  
living naturalist and anatomist has     
published a better  monograph than that 
which resulted from his labours4 ,such a
 man1 at all  events1 has not entered   
the sanctuary with unwashed hands1 and  
when he  lays before us the results of  
#bj years' investigation and reflection 
we  must listen even though we be       
disposed to strike4 ,but1 in reading his

  work it must be confessed that the    
attention which might at first be       
dutifully1 soon becomes willingly1      
given1 so clear is the author's         
thought1 so outspoken his conviction1 so
 honest and fair the candid  expression 
of his doubts4 ,those who would judge   
the book must read it2  we shall        
endeavour only to make its line of      
argument and its  philosophical position
 intelligible to the general reader in  
our own  way4    ,the ,baker-street     
,bazaar has just been exhibiting its    
familiar annual  spectacle4             
,straight-backed1 small-headed1         
big-barrelled oxen1 as  dissimilar from 
any wild species as can well be         
imagined1 contended for  attention and  
praise with sheep of half-a-dozen       
different breeds and  styes of bloated  
preposterous pigs1 no more like a wild  
boar or sow  than a city alderman is    
like an ourang-outang4 ,the cattle show 
has  been1 and perhaps may again be1    
succeeded by a poultry show1 of whose   

crowing and clucking prodigies it can   
only be certainly predicated that  they 
will be very unlike the aboriginal      
,phasianus gallus4 ,if the  seeker after
 animal anomalies is not satisfied1 a   
turn or two in ,seven  ,dials will      
convince him that the breeds of pigeons 
are quite as  extraordinary and unlike  
one another and their parent stock1     
while the  ,horticultural ,society will 
provide him with any number of          
corresponding  vegetable aberrations    
from nature's types4 ,he will learn with
 no little  surprise1 too1 in the course
 of his travels1 that the proprietors   
and  producers of these animal and      
vegetable anomalies regard them as      
distinct species1 with a firm belief1   
the strength of which is exactly        
proportioned to their ignorance of      
scientific biology1 and which is the    
more remarkable as they are all proud of
 their skill in originating  such       
8species40    ,on careful inquiry it is 
found that all these1 and the many other

  artificial breeds or races of animals 
and plants1 have been produced by  one  
method4 ,the breeder--and a skilful one 
must be a person of much  sagacity and  
natural or acquired perceptive          
faculty--notes some slight  difference1 
arising he knows not how1 in some       
individuals of his stock4  ,if he wish  
to perpetuate the difference1 to form a 
breed with the  peculiarity in question 
strongly marked1 he selects such male   
and  female individuals as exhibit the  
desired character1 and breeds from      
them4 ,their offspring are then         
carefully examined1 and those which     
exhibit the peculiarity the most        
distinctly are selected for breeding1   
and this operation is repeated until the
 desired amount of divergence  from the 
primitive stock is reached4 ,it is then 
found that by  continuing the process of
 selection--always breeding1 that is1   
from  well-marked forms1 and allowing no
 impure crosses to interfere1--a race   
may be formed1 the tendency of which to 

reproduce itself is exceedingly  strong2
 nor is the limit to the amount of      
divergence which may be thus  produced  
known1 but one thing is certain1 that1  
if certain breeds of  dogs1 or of       
pigeons1 or of horses1 were known only  
in a fossil state1  no naturalist would 
hesitate in regarding them as distinct  
species4    ,but1 in all these cases we 
have human interference4 ,without the   
breeder there would be no selection1 and
 without the selection no race4  ,before
 admitting the possibility of natural   
species having originated  in any       
similar way1 it must be proved that     
there is in nature some  power which    
takes the place of man1 and performs a  
selection sua  sponte4 ,it is the claim 
of ,mr4 ,darwin that he professes to    
have  discovered the existence and the  
modus operandi of this natural          
selection1 as he terms it2 and1 if he be
 right1 the process is  perfectly simple
 and comprehensible1 and irresistibly   
deducible from  very familiar but well  

nigh forgotten facts4    ,who1 for      
instance1 has duly reflected upon all   
the consequences of the  marvellous     
struggle for existence which is daily   
and hourly going on  among living       
beings8 ,not only does every animal live
 at the expense of  some other animal or
 plant1 but the very plants are at war4 
,the ground  is full of seeds that      
cannot rise into seedlings2 the         
seedlings rob one  another of air1 light
 and water1 the strongest robber winning
 the day1  and extinguishing his        
competitors4 ,year after year1 the wild 
animals  with which man never interferes
 are1 on the average1 neither more nor  
less numerous than they were2 and yet we
 know that the annual produce  of every 
pair is from one to perhaps a million   
young1--so that it is  mathematically   
certain that1 on the average1 as many   
are killed by  natural causes as are    
born every year1 and those only escape  
which  happen to be a little better     
fitted to resist destruction than those 

which die4 ,the individuals of a species
 are like the crew of a  foundered ship1
 and none but good swimmers have a      
chance of reaching  the land4    ,such  
being unquestionably the necessary      
conditions under which living  creatures
 exist1 ,mr4 ,darwin discovers in them  
the instrument of natural  selection4   
,suppose that in the midst of this      
incessant competition some  individuals 
of a species 7,a7 present accidental    
variations which happen  to fit them a  
little better than their fellows for the
 struggle in  which they are engaged1   
then the chances are in favour1 not only
 of  these individuals being better     
nourished than the others1 but of their 
predominating over their fellows in     
other ways1 and of having a better      
chance of leaving offspring1 which will 
of course tend to reproduce the         
peculiarities of their parents4 ,their  
offspring will1 by a parity of          
reasoning1 tend to predominate over     
their contemporaries1 and there  being  

7suppose7 no room for more than one     
species such as ,a1 the weaker  variety 
will eventually be destroyed by the new 
destructive influence  which is thrown  
into the scale1 and the stronger will   
take its place4  ,surrounding conditions
 remaining unchanged1 the new variety   
7which we  may call ,b7--supposed1 for  
argument's sake1 to be the best adapted 
for  these conditions which can be got  
out of the original stock--will remain  
unchanged1 all accidental deviations    
from the type becoming at once          
extinguished1 as less fit for their post
 than ,b itself4 ,the tendency of  ,b to
 persist will grow with its persistence 
through successive  generations1 and it 
will acquire all the characters of a new
 species4    ,but1 on the other hand1 if
 the conditions of life change in any   
degree1  however slight1 ,b may no      
longer be that form which is best       
adapted to  withstand their destructive1
 and profit by their sustaining1        
influence2  in which case if it should  

give rise to a more competent variety   
7,c71  this will take its place and     
become a new species2 and thus1 by      
natural selection1 the species ,b and ,c
 will be successively derived  from ,a4 
,that this most ingenious hypothesis    
enables us to give a reason for  many   
apparent anomalies in the distribution  
of living beings in time  and space1 and
 that it is not contradicted by the main
 phenomena of  life and organization    
appear to us to be unquestionable2 and  
so far it  must be admitted to have an  
immense advantage over any of its       
predecessors4 ,but it is quite another  
matter to affirm absolutely  either the 
truth or falsehood of ,mr4 ,darwin's    
views at the present  stage of the      
inquiry4 ,goethe has an excellent       
aphorism defining that  state of mind   
which he calls ,thtige ,skepsis--active 
doubt4 ,it is  doubt which so loves     
truth that it neither dares rest in     
doubting1 nor  extinguish itself by     
unjustified belief2 and we commend this 

state of  mind to students of species1  
with respect to ,mr4 ,darwin's or any   
other  hypothesis1 as to their origin4  
,the combined investigations of another 
#bj years may1 perhaps1 enable          
naturalists to say whether the modifying
  causes and the selective power1 which 
,mr4 ,darwin has satisfactorily  shown  
to exist in nature1 are competent to    
produce all the effects he  ascribes to 
them1 or whether1 on the other hand1 he 
has been led to  over-estimate the value
 of his principle of natural selection1 
as  greatly as ,lamarck overestimated   
his vera causa of modification by       
exercise4    ,but there is1 at all      
events1 one advantage possessed by the  
more recent  writer over his            
predecessor4 ,mr4 ,darwin abhors mere   
speculation as  nature abhors a vacuum4 
,he is as greedy of cases and precedents
 as any  constitutional lawyer1 and all 
the principles he lays down are capable 
of being brought to the test of         
observation and experiment4 ,the path he

  bids us follow professes to be1 not a 
mere airy track1 fabricated of  ideal   
cobwebs1 but a solid and broad bridge of
 facts4 ,if it be so1 it  will carry us 
safely over many a chasm in our         
knowledge1 and lead us to  a region free
 from the snares of those fascinating   
but barren ,virgins1  the ,final        
,causes1 against whom a high authority  
has so justly warned  us4 8,my sons1 dig
 in the vineyard10 were the last words  
of the old man  in the fable2 and1      
though the sons found no treasure1 they 
made their  fortunes by the grapes4     
99 ,times1 ,december #bfth1 #ahej4