,,essays ,,on ,,darwinism4          ,,by
      ,,thomas ,r4 ,r4 ,,stebbing1      
,m4,a4        ,late ,fellow and ,tutor  
of ,worcester ,college1 ,oxford4        
,,london3      ,,longmans1 ,,green1     
,,and ,,co4      #ahga4        ,all     
rights reserved              ,,oxford3  
,,by ,t4 ,,combe1 ,m4,a41 ,e4 ,b4       
,,gardner1 ,,and ,e4 ,,pickard ,,hall1  
,,printers ,,to ,,the ,,university4     
,,preface4      ,the opinions of ,mr4   
,darwin have now been for many years    
before the  world4 ,his own book on     
#8,the ,origin of ,species by means of  
,natural  ,selection1' unfolds and      
supports them with admirable clearness  
of  argument4 ,far from being an        
abstruse and tedious work1 it carries   
the  reader on with unflagging interest 
to the close4 ,observations and         
experiments1 some the most simple1 some 
the most elaborate1 notes  on natural   
history1 as well from every quarter of  
the globe as from  almost every province
 of nature1 are brought to bear upon the

 subject  without confusion of thought  
or embarrassment of style4 ,the language
  flows easily in its calm1 temperate1  
unegotistical course4 ,there is no      
disguising of objections1 no seeking of 
opponents4 ,there is an evident         
searching after truth4 ,of its form or  
of its shadow the author's mind  as     
evidently retains a bright clear vision1
 and what he sees he tries  to make     
others see as clearly as he sees it     
himself4 ,the suspicion and  dislike    
which are aroused in some minds by the  
very name of ,darwinism  cannot be      
retained by those who read ,mr4         
,darwin's own description  of his theory
 and the grounds which slowly led him to
 adopt it4 ,few  readers can be dull    
enough to feel no charm at finding the  
most  unlooked-for results deduced from 
the simplest illustrations1 from  old   
familiar facts1 from every-day          
occurrences1 or at finding what  seem   
examples of the most special and varied 
contrivance reconciled to  the          

simplicity of a single general law4     
,many readers will be inclined  to      
whisper to themselves at many passages1 
#8we never thought of that  before1'    
#8we never looked at the matter in that 
light1' #8how curious  if after all it  
should be true1' #8it looks less wicked 
and silly than  we used to think it4'   
,whether the theory itself be right or  
wrong1 the  general effect of the book  
which describes it can only be to       
quicken  the minds of its readers1 to   
enlarge for them the circle of ideas1 to
  open up before them new lines of      
thought and enquiry1 to let them see    
the whole face of nature teeming with   
mysteries and revelations1 an           
inexhaustible vintage for the human     
reason to gather in4    ,such being the 
character of ,mr4 ,darwin's own ,work1  
the handful of  ,essays and ,letters    
contained in the present volume1        
supporting the same  views by almost the
 same arguments1 may seem a superfluous 
contribution  to the literature of the  

question4 ,and so it would be if all who
  condemn and ridicule ,darwinism would 
be at the pains to study ,mr4  ,darwin's
 ,work4 ,but opinions passed upon it and
 allusions made to it in  common        
conversation and in popular lectures    
often testify to nothing  except supreme
 ignorance of its general merits4 ,to   
judge by such  hearsay1 one might       
believe that ,mr4 ,darwin had lived all 
his life shut  up in a dove-cote1 and   
never seen or examined any other living 
creature  than a pigeon4 ,another       
estimate will dismiss the whole subject1
 scathed  with indignant laughter1 by   
simply explaining1 that1 according to   
this fatuous theory1 man is descended   
from a monkey4 ,naturally no            
well-minded persons will consent to be  
pithecoid in origin1 whether  they know 
what pithecoid means or not2 still less 
can a theory be  accepted as moral and  
good1 according to which1 as some will  
tell  you1 the giraffe lengthened its   
neck by a series of stretchings1 and    

the elephant acquired a trunk by        
continually pulling its own nose4  ,a   
disinterested advocate will perhaps be  
allowed to deprecate these  burlesque   
and ignorant representations1 and to    
strip from what is  merely vulgar       
prejudice the guise of magnanimity and  
fine feeling4 ,the  range of topics     
embraced in the present volume1 however 
feebly handled1  and however inaccurate 
that handling may in some points prove  
to be1  should at least teach those who 
are willing to learn1 that the whole    
subject is a great one1 and worthy of   
attention1 claiming earnest  thought and
 varied learning to decide upon it in   
all its bearings2  it cannot be disposed
 of by caricaturing2 it cannot be       
settled in  deference to any religious  
prepossession2 it must be examined with 
open  eyes1 and with the full candour of
 mind which great subjects demand1  and 
which great subjects nobly repay4       
,some of the following papers treat of  
matters on which no man of  scientific  

education can be supposed at the present
 day to retain even  a vestige of doubt4
 ,but thousands of persons1 whom in     
ordinary courtesy  we must call         
well-educated1 although they know       
nothing of science1  hold opinions on   
the ,flood and the age of the world as  
irreconcileable  with the best-approved 
scientific conclusions as they are with 
the  ,darwinian ,theory4 ,in appealing  
to the judgment of such persons1 as well
  as in considering the measure of his  
own powers1 the present writer  has     
thought it expedient to confine himself1
 for the most part1 to the  clearest and
 simplest arguments1 leaving on one side
 the subtle and  intricate4    ,the     
letters collected at the end of the     
volume may be looked on  as short essays
 of a somewhat informal character4 ,the 
apology for  reprinting them is this1   
that whereas in a regular essay the     
writer  assumes his own standpoint1 and 
may be suspected of ignoring the        
vantage-ground of his opponents1 in     

replying to a correspondent he  must1 at
 least to some extent1 follow the lead  
of an antagonist1 and  fight1 if he     
fights at all1 on the field which       
another has chosen4 ,as  ,i cannot      
reprint the various able compositions   
which ,i have attempted  to answer1 it  
will be fair1 to one at least of the    
writers1 to remark  that ,i have        
personal reason to know that he still   
retains the opinions  of which ,i       
attempted to disabuse him4 ,he contrives
 to reconcile this  obduracy to his own 
intelligence by laying stress on the    
candid  admission made by ,darwinians1  
that the ,theory of ,development is for 
the  present that which they call it1--a
 ,theory1 and not a demonstration4  ,no 
one pretends to answer fully every      
objection that has been urged  against  
the ,theory4 ,the evidence is as yet    
incomplete4 ,by its very  nature it must
 perhaps always to some extent remain   
so4 ,the proof  depends in part upon    
analogy1 which leads to conclusions     

possible  or probable1 rather than to   
what is demonstrably certain4 ,but the  
advocates of the ,theory1 remembering   
,bishop ,butler's maxim1 that #8to  us  
probability is the very guide of life1' 
endeavour to maintain that  their       
opinions have far more than that minimum
 of preponderance which1  in ,butler's  
view1 not only justifies1 but           
imperiously exacts1 the  adhesion of    
reasonable beings4                      
,,thomas ,r4 ,r4 ,,stebbing4            
,torquay1 ,feb4 #f1 #ahga4              
,,contents4                             
,,page        ,,darwinism#a             
#c        ,,the ,,noachian ,,flood#a    
#cd        ,,instinct ,,and ,,reason#b  
#fb        ,,human ,,nature ,,and       
,,brute ,,nature                        
#hb        ,,the ,,lapse ,,of ,,time#a  
#ic        ,,note ,,on ,,the            
,,hypothesis ,,of ,,spontaneous         
,,generation#a      #abf                
,,imperfection ,,of ,,the ,,geological  
,,record#a                 #acc         

,,darwinism3 ,,the ,,noachian ,,flood   
#adg        ,,darwinism3 ,,science ,,and
 ,,religion                             
#aeb        ,,darwinism1 ,,and ,,the    
,,first ,,vertebrate                    
#aef        ,,the ,,first ,,vertebrate1 
,,and ,,the ,,beginning ,,of ,,reason   
#afj        ,,oysters ,,of ,,the        
,,chalk1 ,,and ,,the ,,theory ,,of      
,,development      #afe        ,,the    
,,mathematical ,,test ,,of ,,natural    
,,selection               #afh          
,,the ,,genesis ,,of ,,species          
#agc        ,,index                     
#aha          ,,notes to pp4 #ac and    
#cd4      ,it has been kindly pointed   
out to me by ,mr4 ,james ,parker of     
,oxford  that there is an error in ,mr4 
,darwin's calculation reproduced in page
  #ac of this volume4 ,upon the data    
supplied1 the increase in the number  of
 elephants there mentioned would require
 #gej years instead of #ejj4  ,the      
further increase calculated in the same 
page1 would in like manner  require     

seven or eight additional centuries     
instead of five4    ,mr4 ,parker also   
suggests that the expressions in page   
#cd1 #8taken for  granted1' #8taught for
 centuries1' seem to ignore ,bishop     
,stillingfleet  and other writers of his
 time1 who saw good reason for believing
 the  ,flood in the days of ,noah not to
 have been universal4 ,i am glad to     
explain that ,i did not by any means    
intend to imply that there were no      
exceptions to the general state of      
opinion1 for ,i am well aware that      
there are at the present day some       
schools1 a few nurseries1 and even  one 
or two pulpits1 into which the truth on 
this point has been allowed  to         
penetrate4          ,,darwinism4        
,,darwinism4      ,the object of this   
lecture is to explain1 with as much     
simplicity as  possible1 the opinions of
 ,darwin on the chain of secondary      
causes  which has resulted in the       
wonderful structures known to us as     
living  creatures1 and including1 in an 

almost infinite variety1 lichen and     
moss1 mite and mildew1 grass and flower 
and branching tree2 mollusk and  reptile
 and fish2 the swan1 the petrel1 the    
ostrich and the eagle2 the  cunning ape2
 the faithful hound2 the elephant1      
sagacious and mindful of  insults2 the  
lion1 capable of generosity2 the horse1 
patient of labours  and eager for       
victory2 and1 along with a multitude of 
others diversely  qualified1 ,one1      
without doubt partaking of the animal   
nature that lives  and dies1 yet seeming
 to partake of something beyond it1     
seeming to  be distinguished from all   
the rest by its postures1 by its        
laughing1  by its cooking its food1 by  
its articulate language1 by its powers  
of  reasoning2 and yet linked and united
 to its inferiors by a multitude  of    
affinities and sympathies1 resemblances 
of form and nature1 and  by the very    
details of its superiority4 ,so ran the 
,pagan legend that  ,providence had     
compacted man's moral nature out of     

particles taken from  each of the lower 
animals1 giving him the wisdom of the   
serpent and  the fiery courage of the   
lion#c4 ,to this sense of an intimate   
union  between man and the rest of the  
animate creation have the writers of    
fables in all ages appealed1 while      
imparting their lessons of prudence  and
 virtue under the guise of transactions 
between birds and beasts and  trees of  
the forest4    ,it is well known that   
after the discovery of almost every     
great  truth a sort of feeling or       
instinct of it can be traced back in    
obscure hints1 in chance expressions1 in
 vague guesses1 in flights  of          
imagination1 so that people very soon   
begin to fancy that they  have all along
 understood and maintained the very     
theory1 which1 on  its first appearance1
 they violently rejected as something   
false and  even vicious4 ,darwinism has 
this characteristic of truth1 that it   
has  often been obscurely anticipated4  
,it has this other characteristic1  that

 its fiercest opponents have already    
begun insensibly to adopt its           
conclusions1 and to speak its language1 
to opine1 even1 that the credit  of its 
promulgation belongs to themselves4     
,in ,mr4 ,darwin's own historical sketch
 of the rise and progress of his        
doctrine1 he does full justice to those 
who have preceded and who  have worked  
with him in bringing it to light and in 
establishing its  foundations4 ,the     
opinion that species originate1 not by  
successive  miraculous interpositions or
 acts of creation1 but by birth1 was    
held as far back as #agid-e1 by four men
 of distinguished genius1 by  ,lamarck1 
by ,mr4 ,darwin's own grandfather1 ,dr4 
,erasmus ,darwin1 by  ,geoffroy ,saint  
,hilaire1 and by the poet ,goethe4 ,in  
the present day1 ,mr4  ,wallace1 ,mr4   
,herbert ,spencer1 the great zoologist  
,van ,baer1 and others1  independently  
of ,mr4 ,darwin1 seem to have come more 
or less to the same  conclusions1 which 
have been warmly espoused and powerfully

 vindicated  by ,dr4 ,hooker1 ,professor
 ,huxley1 and ,sir ,charles ,lyell4 ,i  
mention  these names because it seems to
 be their due1 and not for the sake of  
giving weight to any argument because of
 the scientific renown of its           
advocates2 there are names1 it may be1  
equally distinguished on the  opposite  
side4 ,but one thing ought to be        
observed1 that the progress  of         
scientific enquiry has achieved so much 
during the last hundred  years that the 
opinions of the older ,naturalists have 
an importance  when they agree with     
modern conclusions1 which they cannot   
have when  they differ from them1 unless
 it can be shown that the observations1 
the experiments1 the discoveries of late
 years had all been made by1  or were   
known to1 the earlier enquirers4 ,for   
those1 however1 who think  the opinions 
of a past generation of necessity more  
trustworthy than  those of the present1 
,sir ,charles ,lyell has done well to   
point out that  ,linnus himself looked  

forward to a time when it should be     
proved that  in botany1 at least1 all   
species of a genus had descended from   
the same  mother#d4    ,this is         
precisely ,mr4 ,darwin's opinion on the 
origin of species at  large4 ,he applies
 it to the animal as well as to the     
vegetable kingdom4  ,he extends it by   
considering genera themselves as species
 of the orders  which contain them1 and 
orders as species of the great classes  
to  which they as orders respectively   
belong4 ,in a word1 he considers that   
all living forms whatsoever are         
descended from a very few original      
ancestors of the simplest type1 and that
 this primval group itself  had1        
probably1 a common parentage4 ,wildly   
improbable1 ludicrously  absurd1        
degrading to humanity1 and irreligious1 
no doubt this  hypothesis has appeared  
to many1 and will continue so to appear 
till  it has been studied with          
attention1 and studied without          
prejudice4 ,to  rescue it from the      

prejudice which would make it in the    
eyes of some a  pernicious and forbidden
 study1 is the hope which underlies the 
object  of the present lecture4         
,round ,nelson's ,column in ,trafalgar  
,square there are four colossal  statue 
lions1 the conception of a great artist4
 ,they look unnatural1  not because of  
their size1 or their position1 or the   
material of which  they are made1 but   
because they are all so exactly alike2  
and exact  likenesses are scarcely ever 
found in animate nature1 unless it be   
among the very simplest organisms4 ,when
 we speak of a striking likeness        
between two human beings1 we evidently  
imply that a high degree of  similarity 
is uncommon1 and1 therefore1 noteworthy4
 ,what is true of  even the most highly 
organized animals1 is true1 as far as   
observation  goes1 of all below them4   
,horses1 dogs1 sheep1 kine1 afford      
familiar  illustrations of this         
principle4 ,to the uneducated eye1      
individual  differences may be totally  

unapparent1 which are yet perfectly     
conspicuous to the trainer1 the         
huntsman1 the shepherd1 and the drover4 
,wild creatures know their mates2 wild  
herds select their leaders2 the  bee and
 the ant are capable of distinguishing  
the various individuals  of their own   
communities1 for strangers of the very  
self-same species  with themselves they 
repel or destroy#e4 ,as each creature   
is1 in  numberless cases1 the offspring 
of two unlike parents1 it cannot be  an 
exact copy of either1 and the influences
 of the two parents may  be combined in 
various proportions in each of the      
offspring2 but the  parents themselves  
are continually changing1 with the      
variations of  age and food and climate1
 so that the very rule of resemblance   
between  the producers and the produced 
will entail another rule of unlikeness  
between the several members of an       
offspring not born all at once4    ,it  
is a fact1 which cannot be denied1 that 
in numberless instances the  young of a 

creature differ more or less from the   
parents and likewise  among themselves4 
,why it should be so has been in part   
explained4  ,this is the ,variability1  
without which ,natural ,selection could 
never have been thought of1 because     
without differences there would  have   
been nothing to select4 ,but this       
,variability being granted1 the         
,darwinian theory becomes               
possible--becomes quite capable of      
referring  back the elephant and the    
pig1 for instance1 to the same ancestry4
 ,the  difference between progenitors   
and their immediate offspring are1 it   
is true1 comparatively slight4 ,it      
would1 indeed1 be a prodigious birth  if
 one family contained at once a young   
monkey1 a little pig1 a big  donkey1 and
 a great goose2 but it is obviously     
possible that any amount  of unlikeness 
may be found between the descendants of 
common ancestors1  if we are not        
confined to the differences of a single 
generation1 but  are allowed to multiply

 them through as many thousands as we   
require4  ,say that two race-courses    
differ in length by one yard2 multiply  
that  difference #agfj times and they   
will then differ by a whole mile4 ,if1  
on leaving this ,lecture-room1 you found
 the trees--which half-an-hour  ago were
 bare and leafless--clothed with summer 
verdure1 your gardens  blooming with a  
wealth of roses1 your orchards laden    
with autumnal  fruits1 you would        
scarcely credit your senses2 and yet1   
when the  requisite number of           
half-hours1 reckoned by days and months1
 shall  have elapsed1 you will greet    
these wonderful changes as perfectly    
natural and nothing to be wondered at4  
,in a dissolving view that is  well     
managed1 ,alpine peak and glacier-pass  
melt imperceptibly into some  tall      
cathedral and sunshiny market-place4    
,the two scenes are wholly  unlike1 and 
yet it is contrived that at no moment   
should the passage  from one to the     
other be discernibly abrupt4 ,is it not 

possible then to  conceive that through 
an immense multitude of generations the 
form of  an ape might be derived from   
the form of a fish8 ,we do not mean to  
say  that this has actually happened1   
but supposing the descendant of the     
fish to vary continuously in the        
direction of the ape-like form1 the     
result would be intelligible enough4    
,what1 then1 is there to determine      
variation in any particular direction1  
and what limits are there1  if any1 to  
the system of interminable change which 
the principle of  variation seems to    
involve8    ,of course it is understood 
that the general mass of characters or  
qualities belonging to any creature are 
inherited by one generation  from its   
immediate ancestors and transmitted to  
its immediate  descendants1 so that for 
a long period there would be a large    
number  of individuals in the world     
united into a group by common           
characters1  which according to their   
supposed importance we might call       

specific  or generic4 ,but besides this1
 there is the very curious principle of 
,reversion to be taken into account1 as 
largely conducing to the  comparative   
permanence of species4 ,in ,norway1 ,i  
believe1 when the  father's name is     
,jack1 and the son's name is ,tom1 ,tom 
is called ,tom  ,jackson1 and ,tom is in
 the habit of giving his own eldest son 
the  grandfather's name1 and then ,tom  
,jackson's son is called ,jack ,tomson4 
,now1 in the same way1 in nature it not 
unfrequently happens that  when a       
long-nosed man is father of a           
short-nosed son1 the son of the         
short-nosed man inherits by reversion   
the more elongated feature of  his      
grandsire4 ,under certain conditions1   
which however greatly limit  it1 the    
operation of this principle of          
,reversion may extend1 so far as  we    
know1 to any quality whatever after an  
interval of any number of  generations4 
,the tendency1 therefore1 is to the     
permanence of species1  and yet1 as will

 be shown in the sequel1 it has         
furnished ,mr4 ,darwin  with an         
additional argument to prove that       
species are not permanent4 ,it  must be 
borne in mind that when a character     
reverts from a very distant  ancestor1  
the creature which inherits it will have
 numerous other  qualities1 all probably
 more or less differing from those      
originally  united to the reversionary  
character2 just as if1 in the ,school of
 ,art1  a picture by ,raffaelle were    
shown to fifty pupils1 and when it had  
been  copied by the first1 the second   
pupil were to make a copy of the copy1  
and so on to the end1 each of the copies
 would no doubt differ more and  more   
from the original1 and yet in the very  
last1 by the help of memory  or         
sympathetic genius1 there might be some 
beauty not to be found in  any of the   
others1 recalling the hand of the great 
master2 while it  is true1 that if the  
sketch were something exceedingly       
simple1 the  fiftieth copy1 and all the 

intermediate ones1 might be almost      
exactly  like the original2 and so in   
nature1 exceedingly simple organisms are
  seemingly reproduced for almost       
endless generations with no change1 or  
scarcely any4    ,if it be true that all
 living creatures on this earth spring  
from a  very few1 extremely simple1     
original germs of life1 we have to      
explain  how it is that now there is an 
enormous variety of highly organised    
creatures1 and at the same time some of 
extreme simplicity4 ,for1 if the        
simplest forms are permanent1 how can   
the more complex be derived from  them8 
,on the other hand1 if the simplest     
forms vary1 how is it that we  find1 as 
we do1 the very earliest known form of  
life still living at  the present day8  
,the solution is easy to suggest1 that  
the offspring  of very simple forms are 
sometimes exactly like their parents1   
and sometimes not exactly like4 ,from   
what has been said above of             
,inheritance and ,variation1 this is in 

the highest degree probable1 and1  this 
being admitted1 it will follow that     
according to circumstances the  progeny 
that are like their parents1 or those   
that are unlike1 will  have the best of 
it4 ,why this follows will now have to  
be explained4    ,all over the surface  
of our globe there is a struggle for    
life going  on4 ,the instinct of        
self-preservation is probably stronger  
than any  other1 so that we may rely    
upon it that the creatures of every race
  will strive to preserve their own     
existence1 if need be1 at the expense   
of that of others4 ,it may be horrible  
to the sentimentalist1 but it  is true2 
and remember that man as well as the    
tiger is a carnivorous  mammal4 ,there  
is no beast or bird of prey that can be 
compared with  man for his ravaging1    
destructive1 butchering1 remorseless    
dissipation  of other forms of life1 to 
preserve his own existence and make it  
comfortable4 ,he secures his gluttony   
from famine1 as far as he can1  by being

 omnivorous4 ,moss and fungus1 grass and
 herb1 leaf and flower  and stem and    
fruit1 all alike find a grave in man4   
,the lion and the  flea are the victims 
of his fear2 many a harmless snake and  
toad of  his antipathy2 the otter and   
the fox die for his sport2 the ostrich  
and the ermine for his vanity4 ,for his 
food1 like a wolf1 he slays the         
harmless sheep2 like a hawk1 he pounces 
on the innocent chicken2 like a  wily   
panther1 surprises the antlered stag2   
devours fish like a shark2  spreads nets
 for his prey like a spider2 and in some
 instances acquires  a well-developed   
taste for the flesh of his fellow-man4  
,practically  with all living animals1  
the first consideration is food4 ,if all
  living animals could obtain abundance 
of pleasant and suitable food  without  
preying on one another1 the scene of war
 which ,nature presents  would perhaps  
in a great measure disappear4 ,yet this 
warfare is as  conspicuous in the       
vegetable as it is in the animal        

kingdom4 ,there is  a certain amount of 
nourishment in a given piece of ground1 
and for  that nourishment the plants    
upon it will compete1 some thriving and 
multiplying to the hindrance and        
destruction of the others4 ,here again1 
if the surface of the globe supplied    
nutriment for all its plants1  there    
would be at least no need for this      
destructive competition4    ,and how is 
it that this wide1 wide world does not  
supply food enough  for all the         
vegetable forms that make an effort to  
live upon it8  ,the answer to this      
curious question has long been known1   
though not  sufficiently attended to4   
,it would not be fair to say that       
,nature is  stingy in her supplies of   
food1 but rather that she is too        
generously  prolific of forms of life4  
,for1 take the supposition that all     
living  creatures1 whether animal or    
vegetable1 were shielded from all       
enemies  and influences at present      
hurtful to them1 and let us see to what 

it  would bring us4 ,a single grain of  
wheat produces an ear containing ten1   
twenty1 or some larger number of grains4
 ,but if the ear contained  only two    
grains1 still1 at that rate of increase1
 a single grain would  in thirty years  
be represented by more than a thousand  
millions of  grains#f4 ,what1 then1     
would be the position of the world1 if1 
starting  with a thousand millions of   
grains1 this rate of increase were      
allowed  to continue unchecked1 not for 
thirty years1 but for three thousand8   
,but ,mr4 ,darwin has calculated in     
regard to the elephant1 which is        
reckoned the slowest breeder of all     
known animals1 that1 according  to the  
very lowest probable rate of natural    
increase1 a single pair  would in five  
hundred years have a progeny of fifteen 
million living  elephants#g4 ,now fancy 
an island like our own1 only in a       
climate  suitable to elephants1 into    
which a couple should have found their  
way a thousand years back4 ,at the end  

of five hundred years1 if all  that were
 born were enabled to breed unchecked1  
there would be at  least fifteen        
millions of their huge descendants      
stalking about the  land2 but1 at the   
end of five hundred years more1 there   
would be one  hundred and twelve        
millions of millions of elephants4      
,goodness6 ,what  a stupendous          
menagerie6 ,what a zoological garden6   
,what a prospect at  the end of the next
 five hundred years6 ,and all this time1
 remember1  according to our            
sentimental1 philanthropic1             
philelephantine1  nature-improving      
scheme1 the men and women1 the donkeys  
with a soul  above thistles1 the        
thistles no longer toothsome to donkeys1
 the mice1  the rats1 the cats1 the     
oaks1 the cabbages1 the toadstools1     
would have  been multiplying1 not in the
 same proportion as the elephants1 but  
very  much more rapidly4 ,the great     
desideratum would be standing room4 ,the
  back of an elephant1 or the branch of 

an oak1 would no doubt command an       
enormous rent1 and a right of way across
 the heads of your neighbours  would be 
religiously guarded by the law of the   
land4 ,nor would the  position of       
affairs be better in the surrounding    
sea2 for while these  elephants have    
been computed to breed at the rate of   
two young ones  in thirty years1 a      
single codfish has been found to produce
 in one  year more than six millions of 
eggs1 and there are other creatures     
infinitely more prolific#h4    ,you see1
 then1 that the struggle for existence  
is an absolute  necessity2 and out of   
this all-essential strife springs what  
has been  well called ,natural          
,selection4 ,what is meant by this will 
more easily  be understood by looking   
first at ,artificial ,selection1 which  
has been  practised by man1 sometimes   
consciously1 and oftener unconsciously1 
in the process of domesticating a great 
number of plants and animals4  ,dogs1   
sheep1 bulls1 pigs1 horses1 fowls1      

pigeons1 cabbages1 and other  culinary  
vegetables1 strawberries1 and all manner
 of edible fruits1  together with       
gay-coloured1 curiously-formed1         
sweetly-perfumed  garden-flowers        
innumerable1 have been1 and are still   
being1 subjected  to man's selection4   
,that the wonderful changes which occur 
are indeed  due to man's repeated choice
 of the varieties which suit his        
purposes1  is clear from this1 that all 
the remarkable changes have taken place 
in those particular qualities which man 
has valued1 leaving the other  qualities
 comparatively unaltered4 ,let it be    
speed1 size1 taste1  colour1 form1      
temper1 the coat1 the feathers1 the     
flesh1 the muscular  strength1 the      
powers of endurance2 in a vegetable1 let
 it be the root1  the stem1 the leaf1   
the flower1 the fruit1 the seed1 let it 
be what  it will that is of value1 that 
part and that character have been in    
each case most highly developed4 ,to    
take a few examples3 ,you are fond  of  

peas1 and you sow in your garden what   
your seedsman tells you are  the finest 
new varieties2 you like strawberries1   
you admire roses1 you  fancy a good     
cabbage1 you are particular about having
 a mealy potato2  so in each case you   
plant what you understand to be the best
 new  kinds4 ,what will you say if it   
turns out that the roses have improved  
in their roots but not in the bloom1 and
 the potatoes in the bloom  but not in  
their tubers2 that the strawberries have
 remarkably fine  leaves but very small 
fruit2 that the peas and the cabbages   
have indeed  enormous stems1 while the  
seed of the one and the leaf of the     
other  are insignificant in size and    
tasteless to the palate8 ,so1 too1 if   
you  purchase a race-horse and a pig    
from the most noted breeders of those   
animals1 will you not be disgusted if it
 turns out that the horse has  a        
remarkable propensity for fattening1    
while the pig is distinguished  by      
nothing but its extreme fleetness of    

foot8 ,these disappointments do  not    
occur1 because the variations of        
domesticated plants and animals  are    
selected by competent persons4 ,were    
strawberry-leaves of as much  importance
 in horticulture as they are in         
heraldry1 many fine varieties  would    
soon be exhibited4 ,as soon as the most 
minute tendency to vary  in any         
particular direction has been descried  
in any living creature1  the fancier can
 exaggerate the difference to an extent 
inconceivable  to the inexperienced4 ,as
 a popular illustration of this we may  
take  the ,big ,gooseberry1 which fills 
so large a space in the newspapers  when
 ,parliament is prorogued4 ,a gooseberry
 has been grown weighing  more than #cg 
pennyweights--that is1 nearly two       
ounces#i4 ,but mere  size is not a fair 
test of the extreme plasticity of living
 organisms4  ,you may have your trees   
growing stiffly upright1 or with        
pendulous  branches and prostrate stems2
 you may have your cattle long-horned1  

short-horned1 or with no horns at all2  
your rabbits straight-eared or          
lop-eared2 your fowls with every variety
 of comb and crest and wattles  and     
plumage2 and your pigeons pretty well at
 discretion4 ,a type is  prefigured1 and
 the fancier produces it2 and what is   
done for amusement  with pigeons1 is    
done for food1 for profit1 for the good 
of mankind at  large1 by the grower of  
corn1 by the breeder of sheep1 by all   
the wise  produce-masters of the        
world#aj4    ,such is ,artificial       
,selection2 but man is after all but one
 of ,nature's  works1 and one of her    
numerous agents4 ,all that he does1     
however  miraculous it may seem1 can    
only be done under her conditions1 and  
by the means which she supplies4 ,in    
,artificial ,selection man does  but    
take advantage of the natural laws of   
,inheritance and ,variation1  and while 
he is seeking by means of these to      
produce one alteration1  ,nature herself
 is producing perhaps a hundred others4 

,for1 by the law  of ,correlation1 when 
one part changes1 some other or others  
almost  inevitably change with it4      
,whether it be shortening the beak of a 
pigeon or lengthening the neck of a     
giraffe that is in question1 ,nature    
takes care1 along with the change1 to   
make other adaptations of the  structure
 in the creature's interest under its   
altered circumstances4  ,surely1 the    
working of this principle of            
,correlation indicates a  far-sighted   
,providence of the results1 the         
disastrous monstrosities1  that would   
otherwise have sprung from the law of   
,variation4    ,man's efforts are       
considerably limited1 moreover1 by the  
law of  ,reversion4 ,now1 supposing many
 differing species to be descended1 as  
we maintain1 from common ancestors1 what
 ought to be the observable  effects of 
this law8 ,evidently1 we should expect  
the character of one  species now and   
then to appear in species allied to it1 
or species of  kindred origin to vary in

 the same manner4 ,in accordance with   
such  an expectation1 we find the horse 
and the ass sometimes assuming the      
stripes of the quagga and the zebra2    
certain varieties of the pigeon1  the   
fowl1 the turkey1 the canary-bird1 the  
duck1 and the goose1 all  have top-knots
 or reversed feathers on their heads2   
one kind of melon  resembles a cucumber 
in everything but taste2 there are      
purple-leaved  varieties of the beech   
and the hazel2 and a great multitude of 
plants  sometimes exhibit their leaves  
cut1 blotched1 and variegated#aa4       
,now1 from the working of ,nature under1
 as it were1 man's guidance1 we  pass to
 the working of ,nature when left to her
 own discretion4 ,the work  of ,natural 
,selection is a very slow and secret    
work3 the slowness of it  veils the     
movement4 ,as with the hour-hand of a   
tiny watch travelling  but an inch in a 
day1 there is progress which you cannot 
discern1 there  is change that can be   
marked and registered at intervals1     

though each  successive moment and each 
successive movement seem to leave things
  exactly as they were4 ,you have heard 
of the ,greek simpleton who had  been   
told that a raven lived three hundred   
years1 and so bought one  to see4 ,we   
might live three thousand years instead 
of three hundred  without being able to 
prove the theory of ,natural ,selection 
by actual  observing4 ,but when a group 
of most important observed facts can be 
explained consistently by this theory1  
and by none other1 while no  fact has   
been brought forward to make it         
inadmissible1 it ought to be  accepted  
till some theory can be produced equally
 unimpeachable and  explanatory of a    
larger group of facts4    ,qualities are
 inherited2 but with this peculiarity1  
that very  generally1 and sometimes of  
necessity1 the inheritor comes into     
possession of the inherited quality at  
the same period of life at  which it was
 acquired by the parent4 ,as1 for       
instance1 the child  of a gouty father1 

though it may be destined in old age to 
inherit  the disease1 is not born with  
the gout1 any more than a calf is born  
with horns1 or a cherry-tree produced   
covered with cherries4 ,in the  life of 
every creature there is not merely      
growth1 but development4  ,at every     
stage of life it is possible for some   
quality acquired by  variation to be    
fixed by ,natural ,selection4 ,but in   
the embryonic and  earliest stages of   
development1 variation is least likely  
to be of  service to any creature4 ,such
 variations1 therefore1 will less often 
be selected than others1 and if it be   
true that many species have a  common   
ancestry1 then it ought to be found that
 in their embryonic  and earliest stages
 they resemble one another4 ,this is    
precisely what  we do find4 ,plants1 the
 most remote in appearance and          
properties when  full grown1 differ but 
slightly in their cotyledons3 the       
difference  between the egg of a        
nightingale and the egg of an ostrich   

bears no  proportion to the             
dissimilarity between the two birds when
 fully  developed2 nor by comparing the 
roe of a herring with the roe of a      
salmon could you possibly guess1 before 
experience1 how the full-grown  fish    
would differ4 ,but in the life of every 
human being there is a  stage of        
development1 at which the most sagacious
 physician could  not distinguish him   
from the embryo of a snake1 a lizard1 a 
bird1 or  an ape#ab4 ,now1 if the       
simplest embryonic forms of life were   
the  progenitors of all existing forms1 
this is intelligible2 but how else  can 
it be explained8    ,but1 again1 if     
species do not vary1 how comes it that  
those living at  the present day are for
 the most part not to be found among the
 fossil  creatures of the ancient rocks8
 ,well1 some will tell you there have   
been many distinct creations1 following 
after many catastrophes potent  to      
destroy all the previous inhabitants of 
the globe4 ,well1 ,i will  answer1 if   

you rest on ,scripture1 that view has no
 basis in ,scripture1  but if you do not
 rest on ,scripture1 it certainly has no
 scientific  foundation1 for though the 
crust of the globe has been made what it
 is  almost exclusively by the action of
 fire and water1 the effect of any      
sudden convulsions has been a mere      
nothing as compared with the results    
from the steady1 slow-going1            
ceaselessly-operating forces of those   
two  agents4 ,besides1 when you look    
back through the rocks of different     
ages1 not only do you find some forms   
the same in all1 which testifies  to the
 permanent unity of the living creation1
 but in those forms which  differ1 you  
find the differences increasing the     
further you go back1  and some forms you
 find which have no modern              
representatives1 forms1  that is1 which 
have been beaten in the struggle for    
existence4    ,travel over the globe1   
and every country will present you with 
some  new species2 distant rivers1      

distant islands1 in the ocean shallows  
separated by great deeps1 the opposite  
sides of a continent1 the twin  sides of
 a mountain chain1 the foot1 the spur1  
the knee1 the breast1  the snow-clad    
head of an ,alpine range1 will all      
present you with their  own peculiar    
forms of life4 ,and how came they there8
 ,created1 some  will say1 in those     
regions and for those regions1 because  
of their  special adaptation to them4   
,yet1 since the globe has been          
inhabited1  vast tracts of it have      
changed their climates from tropical    
heat to  frozen gloom1 and again1       
yielded the thick-ribbed ice to genial  
suns  and fragrant zephyrs4 ,unhappy    
species1 the creatures of a fixed idea1 
created for the temperate meridian of   
,devonshire1 and condemned by the       
thoughtlessness of nature1 to pass their
 lives in a climate like that  of ,nova 
,zembla6    ,but further1 had each      
species been assigned to its station as 
some  suppose1 by a single act of       

creation1 is it not reasonable1 does not
  reverence require us to expect1 that  
each species would have been best  off  
in its own station8 ,but this is not the
 case4 ,on the contrary1  imported      
species of plants and animals often     
thrive prodigiously in  their new       
habitat1 and over-run it4    ,once more1
 we find in numberless plants and       
animals rudimentary organs  that are of 
no use to the possessors1--mamm1 that   
give no milk2  pistils1 in male florets2
 in insects wings too small for flight1 
and  soldered to the wing cases2 the    
fifth toe in the hind-foot of the  dog2 
the spur of the hen2 the wing of the    
,apteryx2 and the stunted1  ineffectual1
 but ever-present tail in our noble     
selves4    ,on the old theory of        
creation1 in face of these facts1 we    
cannot  save the admired doctrine that  
nature does nothing in vain2 but on  the
 ,darwinian theory of creation1 that    
doctrine still holds good1  and wisdom  
is still justified by all her           

productions2 for ,natural  ,selection   
works only for the good of a species2 it
 does not work in  vain1 or waste its   
efforts in getting rid of any organ     
simply because  it is useless1 so long  
as it is not injurious2 it leaves it as 
it was  and where it was1 a germ1 a     
capacity1 perhaps1 in the future1 to be 
re-developed or fitted for a new        
purpose4    ,here we have incidentally  
touched upon what seems to be morally   
the  grandest part of the whole theory1 
an even sublime explanation1 as  far as 
it goes1 of that small fraction which we
 see in terrestrial  life of the great  
and manifold works of ,god4 ,we noted   
above that it  is to death1 a necessity 
much hated1 much maligned1 that we owe  
the  possibility of our own birth and   
standing-room on the face of the  globe2
 but the theory of ,natural ,selection  
makes it further clear  that the causes 
of death which we most dread and think  
evil of--war  and famine and            
pestilence--are tending continually to  

improve the  races of living creatures4 
,on the whole1 the wisest1 the          
strongest1  the healthiest survive to   
propagate their species4 ,in the long   
run1  prudence1 courage1 and temperance 
prevail1 and their owners become the    
parents of the later generations4       
,when the competition for life becomes  
severe1 as to every race  of creatures1 
man included1 it does at times become1  
the smallest  advantageous variation    
will give its possessor a superior      
chance of  surviving1 while the smallest
 that is disadvantageous will diminish  
the chance4 ,take the apposite instance 
of a number of quadrupeds  incapable of 
climbing1 supported by browsing on the  
leaves of trees  during a dearth of     
other suitable food4 ,when the lower    
leaves within  the general reach were   
exhausted1 the famine still continuing1 
those  animals alone would survive      
which1 by some peculiarity1 could reach 
the  higher leaves4 ,in this way1 those 
that could spring best1 those that      

could assume even a climbing posture1   
those endowed with the longest  legs1   
snouts1 or necks1 would be selected4 ,in
 some such a way1 then1 we  can conceive
 the jumping powers of the kangaroo and 
the antelope1 the  climbing powers of   
the bear and the cat1 the trunk of the  
elephant1 and  the long neck of the     
giraffe to have been evolved by natural 
selection4  ,the keen scent of the      
hound1 the sharp eye of the lynx1 the   
gay colours  of the butterfly1 the      
splendid plumage of the bird of         
,paradise1 are all  easy to account for 
on this principle of natural selection4 
,so1 too1  are the dull colours of many 
female birds1 to whom obscurity is      
useful  in protecting their young2 so1  
too1 the almost blindness of the mole1  
which works in the dark1 and to which an
 instrument at once delicate  and       
useless1 would entail the risk of       
positive injury4    ,the principle      
explains what no other hypothesis has   
ever done1 not  only ,nature's          

perfection1 which1 in the hour of ease1 
we are ready to  believe in1 but what   
has hitherto been a much greater puzzle 
to those  who knew of its existence1    
,nature's imperfection4 ,the whole      
creation is  in constant travail to     
bring forth something better than its   
present  best4 ,the products of man's   
reason are not1 you will readily admit1 
always perfect1 and yet man's reason is 
a part of the creation1 and  of nature's
 work4 ,the waste of life is prodigious1
 if such a term  is applicable to the   
circumstance that often millions of     
spores are  produced in order that half 
a dozen plants may grow2 millions of    
eggs  in the roe of a fish1 in order    
that the parents may be represented by  
three or four individuals4 ,the bee     
defends itself by its sting1 but its    
weapon of defence is fatal to itself4   
,were a merchant habitually to  send    
five or six million articles of         
merchandize across the ,atlantic  on the
 bare possibility that five or six      

articles out of the number  might reach 
their destination2 or1 were a father to 
arm his son with  a weapon on the       
presumption that the first time he used 
it1 it would  cost him his life2 you    
would think the man mad1 not wise4 ,yet1
 if the  astonishing fecundity of the   
braken1 the mushroom1 and the codfish1  
if  the sting of the bee with its       
backward serratures1 be the products of 
direct creation1 the analogy is somewhat
 telling4 ,how different1 on  the other 
hand1 must our judgment be of those     
contrivances1 when we  trace them to the
 simple1 primary1 beneficent law of     
natural selection1  working always      
steadily for the good of each species1  
and so working1  that we may feel       
tolerably sure that when any species    
dies out and  disappears1 it has been   
replaced by something better4 ,for by   
this law1  we see that fertility itself 
is a character which will be selected as
  tending to the preservation of a      
species1 and that many creatures must   

have acquired the power of what looks   
like wasteful reproduction in the       
long-continued struggle for existence4  
,we can see1 too1 how in that  same     
struggle1 it may have proved expedient  
for a creature to be armed  with a      
weapon capable of inspiring terror1 yet 
so contrived that its  possessor should1
 of necessity1 be peaceful towards its  
neighbours4  ,true1 this might have been
 done by a single act of creation1 but  
why1  then1 was it not done also in the 
case of the mosquito1 the wasp1 and  the
 hornet8    ,on the theory of sudden    
creation1 how can we account in any but 
an  arbitrary manner1 for the           
innumerable cases in which slight       
differences  separate various species2  
for the confused neutral ground between 
different classes1 as where1 for        
example1 a creature seems half animal   
half plant2 for the isolation of many   
forms from the stations they  are       
admirably fitted to occupy2 for the fact
 that many creatures are  hideous1 weak1

 timid1 violent1 and venomous2 for the  
imperfection of an  instinct in one     
species found perfected in another1     
which ,mr4 ,darwin  exemplifies by      
comparing the cells of the humble-bee1  
the melipona  domestica of ,mexico1 and 
the hive-bee1 ranging from great        
simplicity  to an extreme perfection#ac8
 ,but the principle of natural selection
  offers a solution to every one of     
these enigmas4 ,it embraces all the     
various phases of life of the ancient   
world as well as the modern1 and  gives 
a key to the whole grand uninterrupted  
plan4 ,it carries back the  mind to a   
period when the earth was destitute of  
life2 when yet1 as it  were1 the thought
 in the ,divine mind was still unspoken1
 that of one1  and that as good as dead1
 should spring seed like the sand which 
is  upon the sea-shore for multitude4   
,then it came to pass that the dust  of 
the earth was called into life by the   
,life-,giver1 and received the  strange 
command and the mysterious power to     

multiply1 and to replenish  the earth4  
,as soon as living creatures multiplied 
to any great extent1  they would spread 
themselves into different lands and seas
 and  climates2 they would find         
different sources of nourishment1 and   
then  variation would come into play1   
and close upon variation would follow   
selection1 not of necessity destroying  
the old forms1 but establishing  new    
ones1 because in some stations the form 
that had not varied might  thrive best1 
in others the variety would have an     
advantage#ad4 ,as time  went on1 through
 the constant changes that the surface  
of the globe is  undergoing1 one variety
 would be isolated from another1 and in 
such  an isolation the differences would
 increase4 ,and the more a species      
varied1 the more fitted it might become 
for some habitat1 from which  it was    
completely cut off by a chain of        
mountains1 a rapid river1  or a deep    
sea4 ,as the competition became more    
intense1 variations  would become more  

and more valuable1 enabling creatures to
 occupy  positions before untenable1    
ocean-depths1 sandy shores1 holes in    
rocks1  fresh-water lakes1 tops of      
mountains1 branches of trees1 the bodies
  of other living beings4 ,some would be
 taught by necessity and enabled  by    
favourable variations to prey1 as well  
as take up their abode1 on  other       
creatures4 ,and as the strife became    
more and more urgent1 all  sorts of     
qualities that from our point of view   
may seem noxious and  degrading might   
prove of the highest service and        
advantage to their own  possessors4     
,plants with sharp thorns and envenomed 
hairs1 poisonous  snakes1 trichin and   
other parasites horrible to man1 would  
find their  advantage at our cost1 or by
 unparalleled fertility would defy all  
efforts to extirpate them4 ,some species
 would profit by minuteness1  others by 
size2 others1 in various ways1 by       
talons1 beak1 thread-like  tongue1      
prehensile tail1 or furry coat2 and1    

just as men are said to  go through fire
 and water for the sake of money1 so for
 the sake of  preservation1 no habit1 no
 locality would be too uncongenial for a
  species to develope adaptation        
thereunto4 ,and1 accordingly1 we find   
that the water-ouzel1 which is a species
 of thrush1 subsists entirely  by       
diving2 there is a tree-climbing lobster
 in the ,mauritius2 there  are fishes   
which ramble about on the land1 and one 
fish1 the anabas  scandens1 can climb   
eight or ten feet up the trunk of a     
palm#ae4    ,the choice of food1 the    
choice of habitation1 the construction  
of  dwelling-places for themselves or   
their offspring1 methods of defence1    
methods of attack1 are variously carried
 out by myriads of species4  ,the       
processes employed1 in man we call for  
the most part rational2 in  the lower   
animals we call them instinctive2 but   
there are processes  employed for these 
self-same objects by vegetables as well 
as by men4  ,for plants1 in one sense   

stationary1 travel towards water by     
their  roots1 towards light by their    
branches2 they assimilate the elements  
of  nutriment that suit them1 rejecting 
others4 ,the ,sensitive plant shrinks   
from the touch1 ,venus's fly-trap closes
 round unwary insects and  destroys     
them4 ,tendrils fasten on the supports  
that are offered them4  ,trees keep in  
their delicate blossoms till the weather
 is genial4 ,many  a corolla folds      
carefully round stamens and pistils when
 the chilly  twilight approaches4       
,pass from proceedings like these to the
 swimming movements of a  beheaded      
,dytiscus#af1 and other reflex actions  
in animals1 to the  food-seeking        
movements of the tentacul of the ,hydra 
or fresh-water  ,polype1 which hover    
doubtfully between reflex and           
instinctive action3  go forward through 
the innumerable gradations of instinct  
till you  come1 for instance1 to the    
spider1 weaving its symmetrical web1    
rushing  out of its lair to seize the   

prey when the web is shaken lightly1    
but keeping itself close from a too     
dangerous foe when the web is           
vehemently shaken4 ,examine the nest of 
the ,mygale 7the trap-door  spider7     
lined with silken tapestry1 furnished   
with a door on a silken  hinge1 which it
 covers above with materials like the   
surrounding soil1  and holds from       
beneath against an intruder1 by applying
 its claws to  the most advantageous    
point1 the point most distant from the  
hinge3  consider the little ,sylvia     
,sutoria1 or tailor-bird1 which draws   
filaments of cotton from the            
cotton-plant1 and sews leaves together  
with its beak and feet to form a nest2  
go to the huts and river-dams of  the   
beaver2 attend a conclave of rooks      
judging an offender2 look into  the hive
 of the hive-bee2 observe the conscious 
vanity of the peacock2  preach liberty  
to the slave-making ants2 watch the     
sagacious ways of  dogs and horses2 and 
then lastly see if it be possible to    

resist the  conclusion that1 were all   
forms that ever existed1 from the       
earliest  geological times to our own1  
present before us in the order of their 
genealogies1 we should see them to be   
the members of a single family1  now1   
indeed1 immensely divergent1 yet all    
united by some affinity or  affinities1 
whether dimly or conspicuously shown4   
,how strangely men and beasts are united
 by similarity of blood and  fibre6 ,how
 strangely fishes1 birds1 and mammals by
 the likeness of the  vertebrate        
skeleton6 ,how strangely plants and     
animals by the phenomena  of generation1
 not only in the union of the sexes1 but
 also in  7agamogenesis7 or asexual     
reproduction6 ,need we wonder at        
community  of origin between a coral and
 a cactus1 a whale and a sloth1 a wolf  
and  a ,shylock1 when we find that a    
lady's silken tresses1 the bristles of  
a boar1 the quill of the porcupine1 the 
feathers of the owl1 and the  horns of  
the buffalo1 are parallel and           

specifically interchangeable            
developments8    ,consider the vine1    
with its stem1 branches1 twigs1 roots1  
rootlets1  leaves1 tendrils1 and the    
luscious grapes of the ripe cluster4    
,from one  seed sprang all of these4 ,on
 the bough of an orange tree there live 
and grow together leaf and petiole1     
flower and fruit1 the green unripe      
fruit1 the yellow and the golden-ripe4  
,all these from one seed4 ,yet  there is
 no jealousy among them4 ,no one disowns
 a kindred origin for  the root of the  
tree and its golden fruit1 utterly      
unlike as these are1  but1 like so many 
other utterly unlike things in this     
world1 sprung  from the same germ4      
,to have produced and accumulated the   
vast divergences that now exist1  a     
lapse of time1 indeed1 must be conceded1
 unmeasured and perhaps  immeasurable2  
but this lapse of time is precisely what
 geology1  independently of ,darwinism1 
has already demanded4 ,as the           
,scriptures  speak of the earth as      

immoveable1 because so it is in         
reference to  the senses of man1 they   
speak also of the everlasting mountains1
 and  with them the rocks are a type of 
the eternal3 compared with the life  of 
man these expressions are truthful and  
well-chosen1 but they do  not mean to   
say the rocks are as eternal as ,god1   
nor yet everlasting  compared with the  
existence of the globe4 ,it may have    
taken ten  thousand centuries to rear up
 a mountain1 and yet1 if we reckon the  
age of the globe on the scale of a man's
 life1 the mountain be but of           
yesterday4    ,the immense antiquity1   
not only of the globe1 but of that thin 
crust of  it open to our inspection1 has
 been ascertained by geology4 ,geology1 
again1 has made it certain that during  
millions of years1 changes on  the      
earth's surface have been in continual  
progress1 so that not once  merely1 but 
many times over1 continents and oceans  
must have yielded  to one another1 yet  
by no sudden1 but ever by a gradual     

transposition1  such as is in constant  
progress at the present day4    ,seeing 
that the dwelling-place of living       
creatures is thus continually  and      
continuously changing1 how clumsy an    
arrangement it would have been  had the 
forms of life been made constant1       
instead of being endowed1  as they      
clearly have been1 with a wonderful     
power of adaptation4 ,the  question1 be 
it remembered1 is not for a moment      
whether ,god has made  the universe1 but
 how ,he has made that portion of it    
which ,he has  enabled us to see and    
examine4 ,nor yet1 to be thoroughly     
accurate1 is  it in question how ,he has
 worked1 but how ,he has been pleased to
  exhibit ,his operations to the        
reasoning minds of men4 ,what is worthy 
of ,god we cannot indeed judge4 ,we can 
only believe that the things  which are1
 stand worthiest of ,his wisdom and     
goodness1 whatever  faults may seem in  
them to our rashly-judging              
short-sightedness4 ,but  comparing      

theories of creation according to human 
notions1 is it a  nobler conception that
 ,god should have made successively     
groups of  beings to fill the world1 and
 then swept them away to make room for  
others nearly like them2 each time1 as  
it were1 improving on ,his first  idea1 
and so arguing the imperfection of what 
had gone before by the  very improvement
 of what followed2 or that1 foreseeing  
the perfect  types from the beginning1  
,he should have called into existence   
seeds  of life capable1 under the laws  
,he gave them1 of rising in successive  
generations through countless ages1 to  
endowments of the noblest order1  to a  
conscious life1 to a reasoning faculty1 
to a moral sense1 to a  knowledge of    
,god8 ,in such an origin there is for   
man no degradation1  since the lowliness
 of his parentage has ever been traced  
back to  the dust of the ground2 and the
 lowest form of life is higher in  our  
imaginations than the dull brute earth4 
,indeed1 if we desire to  exalt our     

self-appreciation1 whether is it grander
 for us to have  been the work of an    
instant1 or to have been elaborated with
 ,divine  care through millions of ages8
 ,will not any miracle in our behalf1   
however stupendous1 seem more credible  
on the latter than on the former        
supposition8 ,when we see what          
,development has already done for the   
human species1 we can the more readily  
imagine what1 under the same  ,lawgiver1
 it may do in the future for the        
individuals of our race4  ,when we find 
it possible or probable that our own    
bodies contain  resemblances to         
ancestors enormously remote in time1    
simply because  they contain atoms from 
the bodies of those very ancestors      
living  again in ourselves1 we can      
understand how in a future1 whether near
 or  enormously remote1 atoms from the  
very body of the man that dies may  be  
called into a renewed existence1 and    
clothed again with all that  is         
necessary to personal identity1 though  

haply more transformed and  higher      
raised above the old self1 than would be
 an orang-outang or a  naked savage1    
were either of these enabled to combine 
the chivalric  courtesy of ,sir ,philip 
,sydney with the genius of ,sophocles   
and  ,shakespeare4          ,,the       
,,noachian ,,flood4#ag      ,darwinism  
implies almost throughout that no       
universal ,deluge has  drowned our      
globe1 either within the last ten       
thousand years1 or even  within a period
 indefinitely longer4 ,let us speak with
 due respect  of the contrary belief4   
,it seems to rest upon the testimony of 
a ,volume the most precious in the      
world4 ,it was taken for granted  till a
 few years back as much in science as in
 religion4 ,for a  while1 the arguments 
that began to be raised against it were 
met by  counter-arguments so plausible1 
and the objectors differed so widely    
among themselves1 that unscientific     
opinion had a kind of right and         
prudence in adhering to that which had  

been taught for centuries1 and  was     
still taught without deviation in       
nursery1 and school1 and pulpit4    ,we 
should have asserted a better right and 
shown a higher prudence1  had we waited1
 in a matter which concerned science    
full as much as it  concerned religion1 
till1 by learning facts and weighing    
arguments1  we had become able to form  
an opinion no longer unscientific1 or1  
at  the very least1 to appreciate the   
difficulties involved in the ancient    
belief4    ,we are forced to take a     
controversy of this kind as it stands2  
otherwise1 there is a simple principle  
which ought to make all  controversy on 
the subject needless4 ,all authors      
endowed with common  sense1 let alone   
divine inspiration1 use language which  
their intended  readers may be expected 
to understand1 and language appropriate 
to the  scope and design of their       
writings4 ,unless1 therefore1 we suppose
 that  the ,old ,testament writers      
proposed to teach natural science to the

  ,hebrew nation1 we ought to expect    
from them what we actually find3 as  to 
natural phenomena1 past and present1    
they use the language not of            
far-advanced knowledge and minute       
particular research1 but simply the     
language current in their own day and   
nation4    ,but1 setting aside the      
general principle1 in the present       
instance there  is a second possibility 
of quashing the controversy1 if it can  
be shown  or made probable that the     
author1 whose narrative is in question1 
never  meant to imply that which for    
thousands of years has been held to be  
his meaning4    ,the whole point at     
issue is the universality of the        
,noachian  ,deluge1 and the narrative   
has been thought to be uncompromising in
  its declarations that all the earth1  
to the very mountain-tops1 was  indeed  
enveloped in water1 and1 excepting the  
handful rescued in the  ark1 that all   
men and cattle and creeping things and  
fowls of the air  were inexorably       

destroyed4 ,but to this view of the     
narrative there is  more than one       
objection upon the very surface of the  
narrative itself4  ,and1 by way of      
preface1 let it be remarked how vague   
and indefinite is  the use in ordinary  
language of such terms as #8all' and    
#8every' and  #8universal4' ,for        
instance1 if a popular lady gives a     
kettledrum1 we  say1 #8all the world was
 at it1' although #ejj persons could not
 have  been squeezed into the rooms     
without being suffocated2 or we say1    
#8so  and so is a thing which every     
school-boy knows1' when we only mean    
that  a good many lads of a particular  
age1 in a particular rank of life1 and  
belonging to one particular country1    
have most probably been taught  it4 ,and
 again we say1 #8smoking is universal   
with the ,dutch1' without  implying that
 every baby in ,holland has a pipe      
instead of a rattle4 ,you  are not to   
suppose that this is a view of language 
invented for the  occasion1 frivolously 

explaining grave and sacred composition 
by the  trivialities of common speech4  
,on the contrary1 it is precisely to the
  unquestioned prevalence of such       
phraseology1 in all but the most exact  
scientific writing1 that the late ,dr4  
,m',caul appealed1 and appealed         
successfully1 against more than one of  
the objections to the authority  of the 
,pentateuch1 which were raised some time
 ago by the well-known  and ingenious   
arithmetician who presides over the see 
of ,natal4 ,when we  read that #8there  
went out a decree from ,csar ,augustus  
that all the  world should be taxed3 and
 all went to be taxed1 every one into   
his own city1' are we to infer either   
that the clever practical ,roman        
decreed the taxation of barbarians over 
whom he had not the faintest  shadow of 
control1 or that every ,israelite1      
without exception1 found  and visited   
his ancestral home in                   
,palestine--merchants from ,gades and   
,ophir and ,tarshish1 slaves and        

prisoners1 sucking children1 bed-ridden 
old men1 dying sufferers8 ,we shall not1
 if we are wise1 shut up either  ,csar  
,augustus or the ,evangelist ,st4 ,luke 
to so preposterous a meaning4    ,in    
this and ten thousand other instances1  
our general knowledge of the  attendant 
circumstances1 or what we call #8the    
nature of the case1'  supplies the      
necessary exceptions4 ,to have them all 
drawn out in detail  would be tedious   
and troublesome4 ,suppose a glorious    
comet is about  to make its appearance1 
and some astronomer publicly advises    
every  one to be on the look-out for it 
on a certain night1 how ridiculous      
would he appear if he made express      
exception of persons on the other  side 
of the globe1 of persons immured in     
dungeons1 of persons not yet  born1 of  
persons who were blind1 of persons who  
were dead6 ,yet an  author1 writing some
 three or four thousand years back1 and 
borrowing  perhaps from picture-records1
 certainly from the traditions1 however 

delivered1 of an age long anterior to   
his own1 when language was far  less    
ample and precise than it has since     
become1 is treated as though  every word
 must bear the full and exact force     
which it would have in  a               
carefully-written treatise upon logic in
 the present day4 ,we may  assume that  
the author either had sound and accurate
 information in the  ordinary course of 
human tradition1 or else that he was    
endowed with  a super-human knowledge of
 the historical events in question4     
,but1  on either assumption1 what       
conceivable warrant have we for         
imagining  that he was deprived of      
common sense8 ,either he knew the       
contradictions  which natural science   
offers to the belief in a recent        
universal  deluge1 or he did not know   
them4 ,if he knew them1 we may infer    
from  his silence that his narrative was
 not open to those contradictions2  in  
other words1 that the deluge of which he
 speaks was not universal4  ,if he did  

not know them1 his ignorance points to  
the same conclusion3  otherwise1 we     
shall have a divine miracle1 intended   
for the warning  and the benefit of the 
human race1 yet so contrived that all   
its most  surprising circumstances      
should be absolutely unknown to one half
 of  mankind1 and as absolutely         
incredible to the other half4    ,the   
historical account informs us that #8the
 waters prevailed  exceedingly upon the 
earth2 and all the high hills that were 
under  the whole heaven were covered4   
,fifteen cubits upwards did the waters  
prevail2 and the mountains were         
covered4' ,but ,europe possesses        
mountains rising to a height of more    
than #aj1jjj cubits or #ae1jjj          
feet--one peak in ,asia is #bi1jjj feet 
above the level of the sea--so  that1 on
 the common interpretation1 the waters  
of the flood must have  risen to a      
thickness above the ordinary sea-level  
of nearly #cj1jjj feet  over the whole  
of the globe4 ,but1 on this supposition1

 the narrative is  not only bewildering 
and morally impossible1 but positively  
untruthful1  for it declares the        
physical means employed in the          
production of  the flood to be the      
fountains of the great deep and the rain
 from  heaven--means entirely sufficient
 to produce a partial flood over  a     
limited area1 but utterly and           
ludicrously inadequate to produce a     
total deluge enveloping #8all the high  
hills under the whole heaven4'  ,the    
notion is self-contradictory that the   
ocean can be employed to  raise its own 
level1 or that its general height can be
 increased by the  rain which it is its 
own part to supply4 ,nor is there any   
indication  afforded that a supernatural
 supply of water was added to our       
planet1  to the extent of several       
hundred millions of cubic miles of      
liquid1  which would have been required 
for the purpose of drowning the         
,caucasus  and the ,alps and ,teneriffe 
and ,popocatapetl and ,chimilari4 ,we   

must  consider also the difficulty of   
breathing1 and the intense cold that    
would have been experienced at that     
stupendous altitude4 ,there is the  old 
question of space in the ark2 there is  
the old question of the  food-supply1   
sufficient and appropriate1 to be stored
 and sorted for  its various occupants1 
carnivorous and herbivorous1 beasts of  
prey1  carrion-birds1 and amphibious    
monsters4 ,but what are these compared  
with the question how life could be     
sustained in the bitter freezing        
atmosphere1 thousands of feet above the 
line of perpetual snow1 by  creatures   
accustomed to the lowlands of the       
tropics8 ,supposing1  however1 the      
atmosphere to have been completely      
warmed by the rise  of the ocean1 or    
even if the air within the ark was kept 
warm by its  enormous crowd of denizens1
 we are confronted by a new difficulty1 
one  that might seem laughable and      
improper to mention but for its vast    
and pressing importance in our own days1

 thwarting the physician1  perplexing   
the statesman1 baffling the chemist and 
the engineer4 ,to  this supposed epitome
 of the world's inhabitants1 shut up for
 months  within the ark1 who were the   
scavengers8    ,but suppose every one of
 these problems to be solved by a       
miracle1  although of such miracles not 
a hint is given1 there still remains    
the statement to be dealt with1 that    
#8,god made a wind to pass over  the    
earth1 and the waters assuaged4' ,surely
 this1 if nothing else1 is  conclusive  
that the writer had all along been      
describing a local and  partial deluge  
upon which a wind could have some       
sensible effect1 not  an universal flood
 wrapping all the mountains of the globe
 in water1 in  which case the mightiest 
wind that ever was1 or could be dreamed 
of1  could only have laid bare the      
surface of the land by piling up great  
hills and precipices of water upon the  
ocean4    ,when we wish to expose the   
miracles of a false religion or of a    

superstitious aberrant creed1 we point  
out1 as the case may be1 that  they are 
frivolous1 useless1 unmeaning1 devoid of
 adequate motive1 the  end achieved and 
the means employed bearing no reasonable
 proportion2  or we show that the       
testimony in their favour is            
inconsistent with  itself1 or that the  
consequences which should have flowed   
from the  miracle1 had it been genuine1 
are certainly wanting1 unless1 to       
bolster  up one extreme improbability1 a
 hundred others are invented and        
swallowed4 ,to every one of these       
imputations the common theory of the    
,noachian ,deluge lies open4 ,but       
concede a few grains of common sense to 
the narrator2 read his narrative in the 
spirit in which such a person  must have
 written it2 remember that he is not    
writing a scientific  treatise1 nor     
using the phraseology of modern ,europe2
 bear in mind that  he is speaking in an
 idiom no longer or now but seldom used1
 yet a just  and noble idiom1 which     

ascribes to ,god all that is done upon  
earth1  whether good or evil1 the works 
of man and the common processes of      
nature1 as well as things super-human   
and miraculous2 and1 with these         
considerations before us1 we shall save 
the venerable record from every         
imputation1 either of folly or of       
falsehood4    ,that which we have       
described to us is a vast penal         
catastrophe  sweeping away some great   
centre of civilization by means of a    
terrible  inundation4 ,along some       
ocean-border the far-stretching plains  
were  dotted thickly with towns and     
villages4 ,there were fields waving     
with corn2 the vine and the olive1 the  
orange and the palm abounded2  there    
were cattle feeding in green pastures   
beside the still waters2  there were    
populous tribes and nations carrying on 
all the business  and revelry of life2  
they bought1 they sold1 they builded1   
they  planted1 they were marrying and   
giving in marriage1 when suddenly  the  

fountains of the great deep were broken 
up1 and the earthquake  wave rolled in  
upon them1 and swept all the beauty and 
the glory and  the sin remorselessly    
away4 ,at the same time1 the angry      
heavens were  overcast1 and the         
floodgates of the clouds poured down    
their volumes of  ceaselessly-descending
 rain4 ,the distant mountains were torn 
from the  sight2 nay1 every high hill   
under the whole heaven was itself       
covered  and enfolded in a liquid veil1 
for every rill was now a torrent1 every 
tiny silver thread of a cascade now a   
dark unbroken avalanche of  waters4 ,one
 family alone1 alone obedient to the    
warning which all had  received1 were   
saved amidst this universal ruin1 and   
took with them  into the ark of their   
refuge specimens of every bird and beast
 and  creeping thing that their own     
country produced1 and that was in any   
way serviceable to man4 ,when cloud and 
mist had rolled away from the           
mountain-tops1 when the face of the     

ground was once more dry--with  these   
creatures they stocked their new        
settlement4 ,the well-watered  plain was
 speedily replenished2 the vine         
flourished2 the cattle brought  forth   
abundantly2 the children of the         
patriarch multiplied rapidly and  spread
 far and wide over their rich and       
undisputed inheritance4    ,such is the 
narrative as it glimmers through the    
haze of forty  centuries1 only told in  
the original with unrivalled simplicity 
and  force1 grander than any description
 by forbearing to describe1 told as  one
 would tell it1 who in that convulsion  
of nature had lost kindred1  friends and
 countrymen1 as one who had seen the    
whole world1 so far  as he knew it or   
cared for it1 foundering in the waves1  
and yet had  lived on through all the   
unutterable calamity to see himself once
 more  surrounded by fruitful fields and
 smiling homesteads1 and all that  might
 make what was to him emphatically a new
 world the counterpart of  the old4     

,some may permit themselves for a moment
 to set aside the limitation  we have   
suggested to the number of animals in   
the ark as fanciful and  unwarranted4   
,it will be proper therefore to draw out
 the consequences  attaching to the old 
opinion4 ,we find from the words of the 
narrative1  that the patriarch ,noah was
 intrusted with the task of collection4 
,to  achieve it1 then1 he must have gone
 in person1 or sent expeditions1  to    
,australia for the kangaroo and the     
wombat1 to the frozen ,north for  the   
,polar bear1 to ,africa for the gorilla 
and the chimpanzee2 the  hippopotamus of
 the ,nile1 the elk1 the bison1 the     
dodo1 the apteryx1  the emeu and the    
cassowary must have been brought        
together by vast  efforts from distant  
quarters4 ,the patriarch or his agents  
must  have been endowed with a          
supernatural knowledge of natural       
history  far surpassing ,solomon's or   
that of our own times1 that they might  
properly distinguish varieties and      

species1 so that no species might be    
omitted and none represented by more    
than one variety4 ,to accomplish  this  
with the minutest insects1 they must    
have been provided with  powerful       
microscopes4 ,every portion of the dry  
land of the globe must  have been       
accessible to them2 every jungle1       
cavern1 and ravine4 ,the  little islands
 that lose themselves in mid-ocean must 
all have been  ransacked2 the search1   
too1 that might not neglect any acre of 
ground  in all the continents of the    
world1 would be distracted with the most
  varied and incongruous pursuits4      
,sheep1 game1 caterpillars1 beasts of   
prey1 snails1 eagles1 fleas and titmice1
 must all have their share of           
attention4 ,unusual pains must be       
employed to secure them uninjured4      
,they must be fed and cared for during a
 journey1 perhaps1 of thousands  of     
miles1 till they reach the ark2 they    
must be hindered from devouring  one    
another while the search is continued   

for rats and bats and  vipers and toads 
and scorpions1 and other animals which a
 patriarch1  specially singled out as   
just and upright and a lover of peace1  
would  naturally wish and naturally be  
selected to transmit as a boon to his   
favoured descendants4    ,it might be   
asked how1 with the supernatural        
knowledge requisite for  collecting all 
the terrestrial animals of the globe1   
and the unique  opportunity for         
observation afforded by a residence of  
some months  with them in the ark1 no   
more scientific classification was      
arrived at  than that into birds and    
beasts and creeping things8 ,but letting
 this  pass1 or scattering it and other 
objections to the winds by inventing a  
miracle to explain the gathering        
together of the animals1 we shall then  
have to give some account of their      
re-distribution4 ,instead of worrying   
ourselves with the problem1 shall we at 
once solve it by asserting  that they   
were miraculously re-transferred to the 

habitations from  which they came8 ,this
 will be a highly satisfactory plan1 if 
only it  will stop the mouths of those  
inquisitive persons who never know when 
they are beaten in an argument4 ,but one
 cavil may easily be foreseen1          
requiring a new miracle to satisfy it2  
for many of the animals must  either    
have been miraculously supplied with    
provisions1 or miraculously  enabled to 
do without them2 or else1 to take a     
single instance1 two  spiders would have
 been limited to a couple of flies1 and 
when the  flies had become extinct1     
because devoured by the spiders1 the    
spiders  also would have become extinct 
through having no more flies to devour2 
and thus their preservation in the ark1 
at the expense of a great many          
unrecorded and highly improbable        
miracles1 would have been utterly       
useless4    ,suppose1 however1 that they
 were spread over the earth again by the
  slow process of natural distribution4 
,certain perplexities1 indeed1  may have

 arisen when they first issued from the 
ark1 when the cobra  and the            
rattlesnake1 the hungry wolf and the    
relentless tiger were let  loose upon   
the impoverished world and its          
defenceless inhabitants4  ,for at that  
conjuncture to have destroyed even one  
cruel and venomous  beast might have    
blotted out a whole species4 ,it is     
surely a little  remarkable that        
ravenous beasts and birds of prey should
 have been  limited1 even while in the  
ark1 to feeding upon animals in a       
ceremonial  or ecclesiastical sense     
clean2 but if1 after they had left the  
ark1  and had once more to provide for  
themselves1 the wily panther and the    
treacherous hyena must be imagined      
debating before every meal whether      
their victim belonged to the sevens of  
the clean or the couples of the  unclean
 animals1 shall we not turn in pity and 
vexation from any view  that involves   
and admits so monstrous a supposition8  
,but we will concede that every creature

 bore a charmed life1 that it  might not
 perish by famine or violence till it   
had propagated its  kind4 ,we should    
then expect to observe that species had 
distributed  themselves over the globe  
in lines either tortuous or direct1     
single  or branching1 broad or narrow1  
but all diverging from a common centre4 
,yet nothing of the kind is found4 ,on  
the contrary1 the species of the  new   
world differ from those of the old1 the 
species of one continent  from those of 
another#ah4 ,the marsupials of          
,australia and ,polynesia  are          
generically distinct from all other     
animals on the globe except the         
opossum4 ,the elephant of ,africa is not
 the same species as the elephant  of   
,india3 so with the lion1 so with the   
rhinoceros4 ,the apes and  baboons of   
the old world are nowhere to be found in
 ,america1 nor the  ,american monkeys   
anywhere in the old world4 ,in          
,madagascar1 separated  from ,africa by 
less than the breadth of ,england1 all  

the species  except one1 and nearly all 
the genera1 are peculiar#ai4 ,everywhere
  species are found limited in their    
range by natural barriers1 such  as     
climate1 rivers1 mountains1 oceans4 ,are
 we to suppose that the  prisoners could
 scramble into their prisons1 and then  
suddenly became  incapable of scrambling
 out again8 ,everywhere1 as a rule1 this
 range  is consistent with the          
hypothesis of an origin central to the  
range1  inconsistent with that of an    
origin distant from it4 ,where1 as on   
mountain ranges1 we find1 contrary to   
the general rule1 the same  species in  
different localities1 the migration from
 the door of the ark  loses all         
semblance of probability1 unless we are 
pleased to imagine  that creatures1 now 
without the instinct of migration1 for a
 long time  possessed it1 and roamed    
about the world through many a sultry   
plain  to pick out a hill-side here and 
there with a temperature suited to      
their constitutions4 ,but the           

exceptional phenomenon1 otherwise so    
hard  to account for1 ,darwin has       
admirably explained1 by pointing out    
that  species adapted to a low          
temperature would naturally have        
occupied  lowlands in the ,glacial      
,period1 from which1 as the cold        
gradually grew  less and less intense1  
they would as naturally have retired1   
some of  them northwards1 others to the 
cool heights of various mountains4      
,that there was a ,glacial ,period1 when
 great icebergs travelled over          
,england1 a period geologically as but  
of yesterday1 though enormously  more   
remote than any historical dates1 is now
 beyond all question4  ,equally beyond  
question is it that countless ages and  
generations  of living beings on the    
earth preceded that ,glacial ,period4   
,and1  added to this1 we find that there
 are forms of life just where they      
would have been left by the effect of   
that period1 had there been  an unbroken
 succession from that time to this1 and 

just where it is  most unlikely they    
should be found1 had they been forced to
 travel  to those habitations from the  
door of the ark within the practically  
insignificant period of #dcjj years4    
,but still further1 we may compare the  
world of life before the ,flood  with   
the world of life since4 ,and here      
surely it needs not the genius  of      
,darwin or ,lyell or ,owen to perceive  
the conclusiveness of the  argument     
which their genius has pointed out and  
enforced4 ,for instance1  where the     
marsupials now live1 there lived        
marsupials in ages long  before ,noah1  
as the fossil remains testify4 ,the     
fossils are fossil  marsupials1 but     
marsupials of species now extinct4 ,so  
that the #8door of  the ark' theory     
requires us to believe that the         
marsupials found their  way to          
,australia1 leaving no traces of their  
route on land1 crossing  seas which they
 never subsequently recrossed1 and      
planting themselves  precisely in that  

region which other marsupials1          
generically the same  but specifically  
different1 had occupied before them4    
,we are to believe this of countless    
other species in all parts of the       
world4 ,we are to believe that they     
slowly and in many generations  worked  
their way back to these quasi-ancestral 
homes1 and yet neglected  to occupy vast
 tracts equally or even better adapted  
to their wants4  ,we must believe also  
that some of the fleetest1 strongest1   
and most  sagacious animals1 as the     
horse and the elephant1 failed to trace 
out the abodes of their ancient         
representatives1 since ,america1 when   
discovered a few years ago1 possessed   
these quadrupeds only in fossil  and in 
no living species#bj4    ,there is      
indeed one animal1 whose powers of      
contrivance would account  for its      
distribution over the globe1 even       
supposing it to have begun  with a      
single family1 not more than #dcjj years
 ago1 and to have ranged  from a single 

centre4 ,man is that animal4 ,yet1 if   
all the other  facts that bear on the   
universality of the ,noachian ,deluge   
were in  an agreement with it as entire 
as their irreconcileability is utter    
and complete1 still the circumstances of
 the human race alone would  disable us 
from believing that the ,flood of       
,noah's epoch extended  over all the    
globe4 ,with other animals it might be  
advanced that the  different species and
 main varieties had been represented in 
the ark  and were thence disseminated2  
but in the case of man we are precluded 
from such an explanatory device by the  
express terms of the diluvian  record4  
,if the ,noachian ,flood was universal1 
then from ,noah alone  must be descended
 all the races of man now upon the      
earth3 all the  great and curious       
variations they display must have been  
evolved1 not  in countless generations  
as ,darwinism supposes1 but in some two 
or  three hundred or less4 ,from ,noah  
alone must have sprung within a mere    

handful of centuries races so widely    
unlike one another as ,greeks  and      
,negroes1 ,jews and ,egyptians1 ,saxons 
and ,ojibbeways1 ,caffirs and           
,hottentots1 ,fuegians and ,patagonians1
 ,californians and ,chinese1 ,arabs  and
 ,esquimaux4 ,in the same archipelago we
 have the ,malay1 the ,papuan1  and the 
dwarf snub-nosed ,negrito4 ,to give the 
contrast between the  two former in the 
words of ,mr4 ,wallace#ba3--#8,the      
,malay is of short  stature1            
brown-skinned1 straight-haired1         
beardless1 and smooth-bodied4  ,the     
,papuan is taller1 is black-skinned1    
frizzly-haired1 bearded1 and            
hairy-bodied4 ,the former is            
broad-faced1 has a small nose1 and flat 
eyebrows2 the latter is long-faced1 has 
a large and prominent nose1  and        
projecting eyebrows4 ,the ,malay is     
bashful1 cold1 undemonstrative1  and    
quiet2 the ,papuan is bold1 impetuous1  
excitable1 and noisy4  ,the former is   
grave1 and seldom laughs2 the latter is 

joyous and  laughter-loving1--the one   
conceals his emotions1 the other        
displays  them4' ,such is the           
description and contrast of two types of
 mankind  geographically separated from 
one another by an interval of not more  
than #cjj miles2 yet the line which     
separates these two races of the  human 
family is almost exactly coincident with
 that deep-sea line  which forms the    
boundary between two great zoological   
provinces4  ,either1 then1 in these two 
distinct but neighbouring localities1   
the  whole multitude of species1 man    
included1 must have been undergoing     
variation simultaneously for tens of    
thousands of years1 or else the         
differences in the whole multitude1 man 
included1 must have been  already       
established1 or nearly so1 when first   
they stepped forth  in singular         
procession from the door of the ark4    
,but the former  alternative1 which is  
the ,darwinian1 is consistent with the  
record of  the ,noachian ,flood in      

implying that the inundation was only   
partial2  while the latter alternative  
contradicts the record in an essential  
point on which it is perfectly explicit1
 by necessitating the presence  in the  
ark of more than one human family4      
,as long as we are content to speak of  
#djjj years or so1 some one might  be   
tempted to fancy1 however erroneously1  
that such a period would be  adequate to
 produce the existing varieties of      
mankind1 because there  is some evidence
 of comparatively rapid changes of      
colour having  taken place under the    
influence of climate1 and because a new 
type of  features appears to be forming 
itself with a noticeable progress under 
the absolutely unique circumstances     
which have governed the recent          
colonization of ,north ,america4 ,unique
 those circumstances are1 because  never
 before has there been so much mingling 
of the blood of different  nations and  
races in a new and unoccupied field1    
with much to stimulate  and nothing to  

curb or repress variation4 ,never before
 have men's minds  and bodies in every  
faculty been so taxed and strained to   
activity  by the very superabundance of 
their resources1 the virgin soil of a   
new country1 an inherited civilization1 
enormous and ever-enlarging  facilities 
for doing1 for living1 moving1 and      
learning--facilities  sometimes that    
cannot be declined or escaped from1     
though they #8fret  the pigmy body to   
decay1 and o'er-inform the tenement of  
clay4'    ,but1 in truth1 there is no   
question of #djjj years in the matter2  
for  there were black people in the time
 of ,herodotus and in the time  of      
,solomon4 ,already in the time of ,moses
 there existed a race in  ,palestine so 
different from the ,israelites1 that the
 first ,hebrew  explorers were daunted  
by the sight of them1 although1 in fact1
 they  were looking on a race no longer 
in its prime1 but one that was dying    
out4 ,egyptian monuments1 dating back to
 the same period and earlier1  give     

representations of ,africans1 ,asiatics1
 and ,europeans1 with  their physical   
characteristics then as now             
unmistakeably distinct2  they portray   
the ,negro as the ,negro still is both  
in colour and in  features#bb4    ,if it
 took only #hjj years1 then1 which is   
the interval between the  ,flood and the
 birth of ,moses1 to originate and      
establish types so  distinct as ,jews1  
,egyptians1 ,negroes1 and ,anakim1 all  
gathered together  in a little corner of
 the world1 might not ,nature1 having   
done so  much in so short a time for the
 highest animal1 do a little more in a  
longer time for lower animals1 and so   
supply that origin of species  by       
variation for which ,mr4 ,darwin        
contends8 ,would not the obvious        
inference be that ,nature had done so1  
if it were not fancied that  such an    
origin of species was still more        
repugnant to the ,book of  ,genesis than
 even a limitation of the area covered  
by the ,flood8 ,but  the ,darwinian     

theory1 happily for itself1 is not      
dependent upon any  supposition so      
incredible as one which would warrant us
 in expecting  among the descendants1   
for example1 of ,william the ,conqueror1
 people  as little like one another as  
,john ,bull and ,john ,chinaman1 ,uncle 
,sambo  and the last of the ,mohicans4  
,there are circumstances of immense     
weight to convince us that certain      
marked divisions of mankind  originated 
in the regions which they are now       
occupying4 ,there are  other            
circumstances preponderating for the    
common origin of mankind4  ,darwinism   
has at length shown how these phenomena 
can be reconciled1 by  simply connecting
 the history of man with that vast      
duration of life  upon the globe which  
geological science has unveiled4 ,the   
likenesses  among races of men demand a 
common parentage for all those races2   
the  unlikenesses can only be accounted 
for on the view of an isolation         
immensely protracted of one race from   

another4 ,thus the primary origin  is   
common to all2 the secondary origin is  
peculiar to each3 but now  that the     
primary origin has been proved to be so 
vastly more remote  than was once       
supposed1 the secondary origin recedes  
of itself into a  far distant past1 to  
give time for differences to arise and  
develope1  since1 if the actually       
existing unlikenesses were only         
skin-deep1  instead of affecting1 as    
they do1 the bones of the skeleton and  
the  whole fibre of the mind1 they would
 still be too great to admit a  common  
derivation of the whole human family    
from the patriarch ,noah4    ,what      
,geology teaches to demonstration is1   
that all parts of the dry  land have    
been not once only but many times under 
the waters of the  ocean2 but it teaches
 likewise to demonstration that at least
 for many  and many an age1 almost      
beyond our powers of conceiving duration
 of  time1 there has been no total      
submergence of the land4 ,that          

interchange  of lake and sea with isle  
and continent which is now going on     
under our  eyes1 has been going on for  
ages innumerable4 ,by this and kindred  
means  human beings1 like all kinds of  
animals and all kinds of plants1 have   
at intervals experienced severance into 
groups and isolation4 ,thus has  mankind
 been broken up into distinct families1 
at first with no line  of demarcation   
except the geographical1 but gradually  
in successive  generations becoming more
 and more unlike in manners1 morals1    
language1  features1 intelligence1 and  
civilization4 ,but since the era of the 
,noachian ,deluge neither has there been
 time for ,nature1 with her slow  though
 certain processes1 to effect so great a
 reconstruction of  barriers as to break
 up the human family1 if till then      
continuous and  united2 nor1 if there   
had been time for the geographical      
severance1  would there have been time  
for the constitutional changes4         
,among the ancients some believed that  

the sun1 moon1 and stars were in        
reality about the size which they appear
 to the unassisted eyesight2  others    
supposed the vault of the sky to be a   
revolving dome of solid  crystal pierced
 with little holes through which men saw
 in starry  shapes the fire of the      
ethereal region beyond it4 ,persons with
 such  ideas of space and physical      
science might not readily have accepted 
on  the moment the ,copernican system of
 astronomy4 ,in the same way persons    
with a narrow and limited view of the   
duration of time may find a  difficulty 
in receiving arguments based on or      
implying the enormous  extent of it1    
which all sciences are now combining to 
demonstrate4  ,but this mental          
incapacity1 the result of false         
education and early  prejudice1 may be  
defied to resist any real investigation 
of the facts  or study of what has been 
written upon them4 ,let any man of      
mature mind  and average intellect read 
through ,sir ,john ,lubbock's           

#8,prehistoric  ,times1' ,mr4 ,darwin's 
#8,origin of ,species1' and ,sir        
,charles ,lyell's  #8,principles of     
,geology1' and retain if he can the     
opinion that our  globe was first       
peopled about #fjjj years ago1 and      
subsequently all  but depopulated by an 
universal ,flood4 ,let him see1 indeed1 
whether  he can read ,sir ,charles      
,lyell's account of the progress of     
opinion  and controversy on these       
subjects and refrain from blushing4 ,he 
will recognize in that account a turmoil
 and clamour of fools and  philosophers1
 of laymen and divines4 ,he will have to
 set to the credit  of intelligent      
humanity and enlightened ,christendom a 
long tissue of  pious frauds1 jesuitical
 defences1 arguments based on imaginary 
facts1  and facts perverted by          
imagination1 till he comes down to the  
present  time and finds a great         
multitude of all classes at length      
agreed in  affirming that life has      
endured on the globe with unbroken      

continuity  through a past as yet       
unfathomable4 ,his own mind1 he will    
perceive1  has actually reached maturity
 without having admitted the voice of   
this multitude1 although1 to apply      
almost literally the words of his  great
 ,master1 #8,if these should hold their 
peace1 the stones would cry  out#bc4'   
,the world and its wonders are of no    
mushroom growth1 although even  the     
mushroom1 which is commonly supposed to 
spring up in a single  night1 requires a
 much longer period1 often many weeks1  
for its  production#bd4 ,the ,book of   
,genesis itself most clearly warns any  
careful reader against attempting to    
build a chronology upon the brief       
memoranda of names and dates which for  
other reasons are inserted in  it4 ,for1
 taking them simply as they stand1      
,shem1 the son of ,noah1  is represented
 as long surviving the birth of ,isaac1 
while ,abraham1  the father of ,isaac1  
appears as the contemporary of a vast   
number of  different and strange tribes 

and nations--,egyptians1 ,philistines1  
,canaanites1 ,syrians1 and many more1   
besides the ,chaldeans from among  whom 
he came4 ,to find a parallel to all     
this1 we should imagine our  own ,edward
 ,,iii1 instead of dying in #acgg as he 
did1 living on and  on to the present   
day1 a forgotten old man1 not noticed in
 the page  of history throughout #ejj   
eventful years1 during which the whole  
of  ,europe was becoming peopled with   
descendants of himself and his  father1 
men speaking languages mutually         
unintelligible1 holding creeds  mutually
 abhorrent1 with strange diversities in 
dress1 manners and  government1 and some
 prevented by national custom from even 
eating at  the same table with guests of
 another neighbouring and kindred tribe4
  ,in vain should we search through     
history for any actual parallel1  for   
any instance of developments so         
extraordinary1 and estrangements  so    
complete1 occurring within a space of   
only #ejj years4 ,if all the  nations   

spoken of as contemporary with ,abraham 
were only #ejj years  distant from the  
,flood1 as the ,book of ,genesis shows  
them to have  been1 we may be certain   
that they could trace back their        
lineage1  independently of ,noah and his
 family1 far beyond the era of the      
,deluge4  ,the monumental evidence of   
,egyptian chronology carries us back to 
a  ,pharaoh reigning some three or four 
hundred years before that date#be4  ,the
 ,book of ,genesis introduces us to     
another ,pharaoh reigning some  #djj    
years after it4 ,are we to set aside the
 monumental evidence1 and  make this    
later ,pharaoh a descendant of ,noah1   
reigning as a powerful  monarch1 while  
,abraham1 the rightful heir of a        
patriarchal monarchy  over all the      
earth1 was nothing but a wandering      
shepherd8 ,religion1  morals1           
civilization1 as far as we know anything
 about them in those  ages1 whether we  
regard their advancement in some        
quarters or their  decay in others1 all 

protest against having their progress   
cramped into  those four or five hundred
 years4 ,they protest against being     
ascribed  with all their conspicuous    
diversities to the offspring of one man1
  whose son1 grandson1 great-grandson   
and great-great-grandson1 ,shem1        
,arphaxad1 ,salah1 and ,eber1 were      
actually still living during all these  
supposed revolutions#bf4    ,indeed1 if 
we go back from our #djj to our #djjj   
years1 the protests on  these points are
 almost equally forcible4 ,in the matter
 of language1  estimate how many        
generations must have passed away before
 the children  of a common parent came  
to vary in speech as much as ,chinese1  
,russians1  ,englishmen1 and clucking   
,hottentots4 ,form some estimate of the 
time  required for the rise and growth  
of civilization1 not only in the        
old-world centres of ,nineveh and       
,babylon and ,egyptian ,thebes1 but in  
the separate and independent centres of 
,mexico and ,peru4 ,explain1  moreover1 

what1 on the hypothesis of a common     
,noachian descent1 must  be called the  
rise and growth of barbarism4 ,show1 if 
it be possible1  how1 amidst the rapid  
strides of civilization1 side by side   
with the  advancement of taste1         
literature1 and science1 the descendants
 of  ,noah in some cases degenerated    
from all culture1 sank away from all    
morality1 lost all religion1 forgot all 
useful arts1 even those most  essential 
to the lowest degree of comfort1 the    
kindling of fire1 the  use of metals1   
the construction of dwellings1 while    
they learned the  habits and acquired   
something more than the innocent        
shamelessness of  brutes--learned to    
prefer the flesh of their own species to
 any other1  learned to make a duty in  
some regions of putting their parents to
  death1 in others1 of eating their dead
 bodies#bg4 ,such customs we  have on   
record four centuries before ,christ1   
such customs on record as  existing     
nineteen centuries after4 ,will any one 

attempt to persuade us  that the savages
 of ,andaman and the ,feejee ,islands   
are cousins1 through  an ancestor no    
more remote than ,noah1 of ,chatham and 
,wilberforce1 and  ,lesseps and ,brunel8
    ,traditions of a ,deluge1 it is     
true1 are found almost everywhere4 ,the 
reason doubtless is that almost         
everywhere some tremendous calamity of  
this description has at one time or     
another occurred4 ,inundations on  a    
small scale are common and frequent1 but
 on a scale great enough to  surprise   
the imagination and become traditional  
in the memories of a  people1 they would
 naturally be rare and infrequent in the
 extreme1 so  that the fact of such an  
experience belonging to the history of  
so many  different races1 is but another
 proof1 or at least another indication1 
of the antiquity of man4 ,if stress is  
to be laid on the points of  similarity 
between the traditions1 as proving that 
every land has been  ravaged by the     
waters of a flood1 equal stress may in  

fairness be laid  on the points of      
difference1 as proving that not one     
common universal  ,deluge is spoken of1 
but many separate and partial floods1   
distinct in  time1 in place1 and in     
results4 ,if stress again is to be laid 
on the  tradition because it is common  
to so many tribes1 let equal importance 
be granted to the traditions of time    
among the ,chaldeans and the            
,egyptians1 the ,chinese and the        
,hindus1 who reckon the years of their  
uninterrupted histories by tens of      
thousands#bh4    ,finally1 we may ask1  
where are the traces of so tremendous   
and  unparalleled a convulsion as one   
that could wrap the whole world in      
water1 and hold all its ddal beauty for 
many months in that drowned  condition1 
till a tempest still more furious and   
unparalleled drave  heaven and earth1   
the clouds and ocean1 once more asunder8
 ,we know  how the little trilobite in  
the ,devonian seas behaved in its hour  
of  peril millions of years back2 we    

know what food men ate long ages  before
 the ,flood1 what weapons they used1    
what houses they built1 what  animals   
they tamed2 but what became of man and  
beast and bird and  forest in the       
supposed universal ,deluge1 no one      
knows4 ,the signs and  natural monuments
 of the catastrophe1 which should have  
been visible  or discoverable on every  
side1 can nowhere be                    
ascertained1--things  that the waters   
should have swept away or torn down they
 have left  undisturbed1 shell-mounds   
and glacier moraines and boulderstones  
on the  mountain-side2 while the great  
museum of the dead which they should    
have formed1 one would think1 over all  
the earth1 to constitute one  striking  
and indisputable geological date1 as    
well as a world-wide  monument of       
religion1 is nowhere to be found4       
,what became of flower and herb1 of     
creatures that live between the  zones  
of high and low water1 of mollusk and   
coral and fish that require  an         

appropriate depth and a fitting         
temperature in their liquid homes1  it  
will be useless to speculate1 if1 after 
all that has been urged  upon other     
points1 there are some who still think  
that the description  in ,genesis is the
 description of a ,flood that prevailed 
over all the  world1 and intend still to
 believe in such a ,flood1 and to teach 
it  as a part of religious doctrine1    
notwithstanding any argument or         
scientific proof to the contrary4 ,for  
them we can do no more than  commend to 
their daily reflection a few lines from 
the lives of two  famous men3--#8,in    
spite1' says ,dr4 ,wilson1 #8alike of   
the science and the  devout religious   
spirit of ,columbus1 the ,salamanca     
divines pronounced  the idea of the     
earth's spherical form heterodox1 and a 
belief in  antipodes incompatible with  
the historical traditions of our faith3 
since to assert that there were         
inhabited lands on the opposite side of 
the globe would be to maintain that     

there were nations not descended  from  
,adam1 it being impossible for them to  
have passed the intervening  ocean4     
,this would therefore be to discredit   
the ,bible1 which expressly  declares   
that all men are descended from one     
common parent#bi4' ,and  thus another   
author describes a well-known incident  
in the life of  ,galileo3--#8,clad in a 
penitent's sackcloth1 the mighty1       
self-relying  philosopher and genius    
fell upon his knees1 and1 with his hands
 laid  on the ,holy ,evangelists1       
declared that he abjured1 detested1 and 
would never again teach1 the doctrine of
 the sun's stability and the  earth's   
motion4 ,having confirmed his oath in   
writing1 and promised to  perform the   
enjoined penance1 he rose from his knees
 a pardoned man2  and turning about to  
one of his friends1 stamped on the      
ground1 and  pronounced in an emphatic  
whisper1 8,eppure si muove#cj10--;but   
still it  does move4'    ,as the        
antipodes exist1 as the earth goes round

 the sun1 and as the  ,bible continues  
to be true1 in spite of the theologians 
and inquisitors  at ,salamanca and at   
,rome1 so will it continue to be true   
and full  of truth1 when at length it   
shall be acknowledged1 as it will be1   
that there is nothing universal about   
the ,noachian ,deluge except the        
disbelief in its universality4          
,,instinct ,,and ,,reason4      ,an     
initial probability has been established
 by ,mr4 ,darwin and ,mr4  ,wallace that
 the reason or mind of man1 as well as  
his body1 has  attained its present     
complete excellence through gradual     
development4  ,no one denies that1      
between a man's birth and his prime of  
life1 time  is required for the         
intellectual powers to unfold2 but it   
demands an  effort which few have as yet
 made to see in this progression of the 
individual mind a compendious history of
 the indefinitely slow process  by which
 the human mind itself has been formed1 
passing upward1 step by  step1 from     

simple vitality1 dawning consciousness1 
the various grades  of so-called        
instinct1 to the full capacities of the 
most enlightened  reason4    ,the theory
 of development or evolution has excited
 immense opposition  and distrust1      
because of its obvious application to   
the human body4 ,its  application to the
 human mind1 which1 though less obvious 
at the first  glance1 almost inevitably 
follows1 seems to have inspired ,mr4    
,wallace  himself with alarm4 ,he winds 
up the admirable series of essays in    
which he supports the theory under      
discussion with one that earnestly      
propounds #8the limits of natural       
selection as applied to man4' ,his      
arguments on this subject are drawn from
 physical science1 though his  mind is  
evidently1 and even confessedly1 swayed 
throughout by other  than physical      
considerations4 ,he represents1 in fact1
 and endeavours to  reconcile to his own
 scientific views1 the weight of popular
 prejudice  which has hitherto condemned

 those views with some vehemence of     
opposition4    ,the sentiment in        
question amounts to this1 that certain  
powers or  faculties of the human mind  
are so wonderful and so unique1 that    
they  could not have originated in the  
ordinary processes of nature without    
some special intervention4 ,antecedents 
conforming to the usual observed  order 
in other living productions are not     
sufficiently magnificent  for the soul  
of man4 ,something sudden1 something    
mysterious1 is  demanded in the agency  
of its creation4 ,it must be like       
,pallas ,athene1  springing from the    
brain of ,zeus1 a goddess fully armed   
from her birth  in the panoply of wisdom
 and virtue4 ,yet the whole feeling thus
 to be  described of what is fit and    
worthy must be accredited1 as we desire 
to  show1 simply to prejudice4 ,nothing 
can really depend for its intrinsic     
grandeur upon our knowledge or ignorance
 of its origin4 ,a single cause         
instantaneously producing its effect    

does not make the result in any  way    
more admirable or magnificent than the  
like result coming at the  close of an  
indefinitely extended chain of          
causation4 ,feelings of  surprise and   
wonder are excited when we find that ten
 thousand copies  of the ,times         
newspaper can be printed within a single
 hour2 but the  same feelings move us in
 the granite-yards of ,scotland1 when we
 learn  that many months are required   
for cutting through a single block4 ,at 
the first proposal of railways1 a pace  
of twenty or five-and-twenty  miles an  
hour was thought too wonderful for      
belief2 while now1 from  familiarity    
with far higher rates of speed1 we think
 it miserably slow4  ,a child is        
surprised to learn that the light of the
 sun requires time  to reach the eye2   
but a new and even greater surprise is  
aroused by the  information that the    
time so required is only a few minutes  
for ninety  millions of miles4 ,the     
swiftness of thought is proverbial4 ,a  

single act  of thought is commonly      
supposed to be absolutely instantaneous2
 and  yet presence of mind1 which       
depends on rapidity of thought1 is fully
  recognized as an uncommon quality1    
while it has now been ascertained by    
experiment that every thought requires a
 definite1 and in many cases            
measurable1 length of time for its      
production and exercise4 ,following  the
 analogy of these illustrations1 we may 
expect that the popular  opinion or     
prejudice as to the instantaneous       
creation of the human mind  will vanish 
and subside when men become familiar    
with the idea of its  slow development4 
,it will at least be seen that there is 
no special  dignity and grandeur in the 
supposed suddenness of its introduction 
into the universe4 ,the general scheme  
of nature1 so far as we can  penetrate  
its working1 seems to show that there is
 some proportion  observed between the  
time spent in producing and the         
perfection of  the thing produced4      

,religion itself is an unquestionable   
witness to  this method of procedure4   
,there is no great religion of which the
  adherents claim to have had it        
revealed to them from the first in its  
full perfection4 ,what is true of       
religion1 is true of all arts and       
sciences4 ,their progress has been      
gradual4 ,the greatness of nations1     
even when it seems to blaze forth in    
history most suddenly1 ever  finds its  
true origin in numerous steps of slow   
preparation4 ,a hardy1  frugal tribe of 
warriors is nursed in some obscure      
mountain cradle4  ,the struggle for     
existence fosters their preservative    
virtues4 ,a line  of rulers is evoked1  
forced by the circumstances of their    
tenure to  acquire1 as their leading    
qualities1 cunning1 prudence1           
self-control1  fertility of resource1   
promptitude of action1 till at length   
the hour  and the man coincide1 and a   
handful of barbarians give their name   
to a great empire4 ,the same rule       

prevails with languages1 and the        
literatures that adorn them4 ,so fully  
is this established in regard to        
literature1 that men who examine the    
subject deeply are almost led to        
disbelieve in originality of genius     
altogether1 from the invariable         
indebtedness of the noblest authors to  
the thoughts and imaginings  of earlier 
minds4 ,there is1 therefore1 no         
antecedent improbability  that can      
fairly be pleaded against the gradual   
development of the  human mind4 ,on the 
contrary1 every possible analogy is in  
its favour4  ,a supposition so favoured 
becomes at least a lawful and reasonable
  subject of enquiry4 ,if it be true    
that the theory of evolution applies  to
 the mind of man1 we should expect to   
find in that mind itself traces  of the 
earlier steps1 or grades of development1
 through which it has  passed1 and also 
in the world around creatures lower than
 humanity in  some sort representing    
those earlier stages of slowly unfolding

 reason4  ,in other words1 we should    
expect to find in human nature itself   
those  very inequalities1 that very     
conflict of the higher and the lower    
elements on which moralists so urgently 
insist1 and we should expect  to find   
affinities and resemblances1 more or    
less close1 pervading  the whole animal 
creation1 and exhibiting human reason   
and brute  intelligence as1 upon a broad
 view1 one in kind1 however different in
  degree4    ,the first requisite for   
intelligence is the possession of       
memory4  ,without this faculty1         
intelligence is impossible2 but1 on the 
other  hand1 memory that does not       
subserve some sort of intelligence1 is a
  useless faculty2 and in this the old  
theory of creation agrees with the  new1
 that nothing obtains a footing in the  
world without a use4 ,it may  be urged1 
that the human memory is incomparably   
superior to that of  the lower animals2 
but there are surprising differences in 
the powers  of memory among human       

beings1 and the effects of cultivation1 
with the  facilities for that           
cultivation supplied by language1 should
 be taken  into account4 ,it is         
important to observe also1 that with    
brutes1 as  with men1 some individuals  
are quicker than others2 that the memory
 of  brutes1 like our own1 can be       
improved by training2 and that its      
powers  are not equally distributed to  
all classes4 ,the dog1 the horse1 the   
parrot1 the elephant1 are probably not  
further below mankind in the  faculty of
 memory1 than they are superior in it to
 the oyster and the  jelly-fish4    ,to 
make the most of humanity1 without      
introducing the question of  man's      
material form and structure1 one would  
naturally insist upon  his docility or  
power of being taught2 upon his         
versatility or power  of adapting       
various means to the same or various    
ends2 upon his  moral nature1 embracing 
the different passions and affections1  
and  the knowledge of good and evil2    

and1 lastly1 no doubt1 one would be     
inclined and one would have a right to  
insist on the grandeur of his           
aspirations4 ,a crafty rhetorician would
 perhaps dwell on the collective  value 
of these endowments1 and then exhibit   
them1 separately1 rising  to their      
height and fulness in men like          
,archimedes1 and ,chrysostom1  and      
,dante4 ,he would dare us to trace back 
the mental ancestry of these  true      
heroes to apes and fishes4 ,yet the     
reason1 piety1 and imagination  of such 
men1 are themselves developed between   
childhood and maturity2  their very     
pre-eminence shows that improvement in  
such qualities is  possible from one    
generation to another1 and that         
therefore meanness of  origin needs only
 to be coupled with remoteness in time  
to reconcile  the supremacy of man's    
intelligence with its ultimate          
derivation from  the lowest powers of   
consciousness4    ,mr4 ,wallace has     
pointed out very clearly and            

conclusively the  fallacious character  
of the evidence on which the old theory 
of  instinct was founded4 ,starting with
 the notion that wild animals had  none 
of that docility and versatility which  
man possesses through his  reasoning    
powers1 yet seeing them produce effects 
like those which  man produces by the   
help of teachers or his own choice of   
means1 we  inferred the existence of as 
many separate faculties as there are    
kinds  of animals4 ,each of these       
faculties was thought to resemble reason
  about as much as a jack-in-the-box    
resembles a man4 ,the faculty came  into
 exercise in one invariable way without 
any choice on its owner's  part1 just as
 the jack starts up1 whether he will or 
no1 when his lid  is taken off4 ,we     
wondered at the admirable contrivance   
and design  by which these very limited 
faculties were adapted in each case to  
the wants and preservation of the       
species to which they belonged4 ,at     
times1 it is true1 with some            

inconsistency1 we permitted ourselves to
  upbraid the goose with its stupidity2 
to speak of the sheep as silly1  and the
 ostrich as wanting intelligence2 we    
even expunged the dodo1  with its       
self-preserving instinct1 from the face 
of the earth2 but in  spite of these    
slips and mischances1 we still kept     
gaping and wondering  at our own        
explanation of things1 and calling it an
 excessively wise  and ingenious        
contrivance that every species of animal
 should have a  separate faculty to     
itself1 when one and the same faculty   
for them  all would not only do just as 
well1 but a great deal better4 ,we were 
far from perceiving how strong a support
 to ,materialism our theory  involved1  
since if the lower animals without      
reason produce effects  like those of   
reason1 then effects like those of      
reason in a number of  cases beyond     
calculation must be the result of bodily
 structure4 ,it  might not follow that  
the effects of reason itself were the   

results of  bodily structure1 but it    
would become startlingly probable4      
,the history of domesticated animals is 
a continuous proof that some at  least  
of the lower creatures are capable of   
learning1 and how learning  can be      
achieved without intelligence has never 
yet been explained1  and is never likely
 to be4 ,but ,mr4 ,wallace points out   
that we have  made a gratuitous         
assumption1 unsupported by evidence1 in 
supposing  birds1 for example1 to build 
their nests by instinct rather than by  
following the example and instruction of
 their parents4 ,many things1  he       
remarks1 which we ourselves are said to 
do instinctively1 such as  putting out  
our hands to save ourselves from        
falling1 are acquired  habits1 not      
instinctive actions1 and in fact not    
possessed by infants4  ,mr4 ,darwin#ca  
tells us of a species of ant which      
behaves differently  towards its slaves 
in ,england and in ,switzerland         
respectively4 ,in his  memorable account

 of the busy bee1 he shows that some    
species of bees  are less clever at     
their work than others1 and that the    
accuracy even  of the most advanced     
cell-makers has been overrated4 ,this is
 the more  worthy to be noted1 because  
the same persons who are extremely      
zealous  to set forth reason as superior
 in kind to what they call instinct1    
are yet often eager to extol the effects
 of the lower faculty above  those of   
the higher4 ,an interesting account has 
recently been given  of baboons in the  
neighbourhood of the ,cape of ,good     
,hope combining  to pursue1 and after a 
chase of two days and a night1          
successfully  destroying a leopard which
 had invaded their haunts4 ,two tribes  
of baboons in the same locality1 the    
occupants of separate rocky             
strongholds1 are described as upon one  
occasion meeting in battle1 the  result 
being1 that nearly a hundred were       
afterwards found dead or  dying on the  
scene of action#cb4 ,the shape of the   

creature1 and the  combination for      
warlike purposes1 which carries with it 
such a tinge  of humanity1 can scarcely 
fail to affect the imagination4 ,yet    
these  isolated instances must be far   
less telling than the comparison which  
,mr4 ,wallace has so ingeniously        
instituted between man as a builder and 
birds in the same capacity4 ,the shelter
 of the savage is in many cases  a less 
finished contrivance than the nest which
 the bird prepares for  its young4 ,the 
featherless biped1 like the feathered   
one1 takes the  materials readiest to   
its digits4 ,generations upon           
generations follow  one another without 
improvement or signs of inventive skill4
 ,even  in the days of enlightenment1   
and in nations which pride themselves   
most upon it1 the human nest is         
repeatedly constructed without the      
smallest attention to comfort1 health1  
or beauty4 ,men1 whose fathers  before  
them have built long rows of red-brick  
boxes to live in1 build1  by instinct if

 you will1 for it can scarcely be by    
reason1 more  lengthening chains of     
red-brick boxes4 ,there is no reason1   
indeed1  for supposing that the bird    
consults any principle of beauty in the 
construction of its nest1 but a         
principle of expedience some birds      
certainly do consult2 the orchard       
oriole1 for example1 building its  nest 
shallow or deep1 according as it is     
placed among firm and stiff  branches1  
or suspended from the slender           
wind-swayed twigs of the                
weeping-willow#cc4 ,the fact that birds 
build in human habitations1  and make   
use of human manufactures1 is a proof   
that they are capable  of choice both as
 to locality and materials4 ,the        
often-observed  circumstance1 that      
animals in a newly-discovered country   
are without  fear of man1--a fear which 
they speedily acquire from experience of
 his  mischievous propensities1--is a   
clear proof that they are capable of    
learning caution4 ,it cannot be         

pretended that a caution which thus only
  comes in conjunction with experience  
is instinctive1 or anything else  than  
the result of observation1 and therefore
 a sign of intelligent  judgment4 ,the  
lower animals1 then1 can learn prudence2
 can profit by  experience4 ,in the     
training of domesticated animals1 the   
same motives  of pleasure and pain are  
applied1 and applied effectually1 as are
 used  in the education of human beings 
by parents and schoolmasters and        
lawgivers4 ,this could not be if the    
groundwork of the moral nature were  not
 the same in man and the lower animals4 
,addison was inclined to  hold the old  
opinion1 that #8,god himself is the soul
 of brutes1' ,deus  est anima brutorum4 
#8,one would wonder1' he says1 #8to hear
 sceptical  men disputing for the reason
 of animals1 and telling us it is only  
our pride and prejudices that will not  
allow them the use of that  faculty#cd4'
 ,and yet his charming essays upon the  
natural history  of animals1 in which he

 took so keen a personal pleasure1 with 
very  little alteration1 might be read  
as arguments in defence of the opinion  
he thus condemns4 ,he remarks that      
birds1 which ordinarily drive away      
their young as soon as they are able to 
get their own livelihood1  nevertheless 
continue to feed them if they are tied  
to the nest1 or  confined within a cage1
 or by any other means appear to be out 
of a  condition of supplying their own  
necessities4 ,he observes1 that the     
brood-hen will leave her eggs longer in 
summer than in winter1 because  in      
summer they will cool less speedily4    
,but apart from the ingenuity  necessary
 for the propagation of the species1 he 
considers the same  bird to be a very   
idiot1 without the least glimmering of  
thought or  common sense1 mistaking a   
piece of chalk for an egg1 and sitting  
upon  it as though it were one1         
insensible of an increase or diminution 
in the number of those she lays1 not    
distinguishing between her own  and     

those of another species2 and when the  
birth appears of never so  different a  
bird1 cherishing it for her own4    ,it 
is curious that we should abuse the hen 
for being now and then  deceived by our 
impostures1 considering the immense     
quantities of  counterfeit coin we      
ourselves accept as currency1 and the   
strange  compounds of chalk and mud and 
alum and poisonous herbs and minerals   
which1 according to the analysts1 we    
contentedly swallow down as  milk and   
butter1 bread and beer4 ,but the hen in 
a wild state is not  subject to our     
impositions1 and possibly the domestic  
hen finds it  better for herself to     
overlook them4 ,at any rate1 as the     
mistakes  concern her progeny1 if her   
conduct is other than beneficial1 it is 
an argument against the perfection of   
instinct1 which it tends to  bring down 
to the level of imperfect human reason4 
,it is commonly  supposed that ducklings
 take to the water by instinct4 ,and    
,addison  tells us that on one occasion1

 as he was walking in the yard of  his  
friend's country-house1 he #8was        
wonderfully pleased to see the          
different workings of instinct in a hen 
followed by a brood of ducks4  ,the     
young1 upon the sight of a pond1        
immediately ran into it2 while  the     
step-mother1 with all imaginable        
anxiety1 hovered about the  borders of  
it1 to call them out of an element that 
appeared to her so  dangerous and       
destructive#ce4' ,in order to test the  
real force of  nature in this matter1 as
 distinct from experience and education1
 ,i  ventured on the experiment of      
placing some little orphan ducklings1   
which had been reared away from any     
pond1 in a shallow bath of water  just  
deep enough for them to swim in4 ,the   
experiment was two or three  times      
repeated1 but in each case with a sort  
of impiety1 or1 at any  rate1 gross     
disrespect towards the grand principle  
of instinct1 the  ducklings1 instead of 
enjoying themselves in their appropriate

 element1  made the most violent and    
unceasing efforts to escape from it4    
,the  whole theory of instinct1 indeed1 
probably rests on a multitude of        
evidences which have themselves been    
taken for granted4 ,at every point      
minute observation1 or actual           
questioning of the facts asserted1      
undermines it4 ,addison himself must    
have begun to waver1 before he  inserted
 in the numbers of the #8,guardian#cf'  
the ,french philosopher's  account of   
the ant1 and its wonderful ingenuity and
 perseverance4 ,nor  are passages       
wanting in his works1 which might have  
been expressly  written in support of   
the theory of development4 ,after       
commenting on  the various insensible   
gradations of perceptive being1 #8,if we
 look1'  he says1 #8into the several    
inward perfections of cunning and       
sagacity1  or what we generally call    
instinct1 we find them rising after the 
same  manner1 imperceptibly one above   
another1 and receiving additional       

improvements1 according to the species  
in which they are implanted4  ,this     
progress in nature is so very gradual1  
that the most perfect of an  inferior   
species comes very near to the most     
imperfect of that which is  immediately 
above it4' ,again3 #8,the whole chasm in
 nature1 from a plant  to a man1 is     
filled up with divers kinds of          
creatures1 rising one over  another1 by 
such a gentle and easy ascent1 that the 
little transitions  and deviations from 
one species to another are almost       
insensible2' and  he quotes with        
approbation a passage from ,locke1 in   
which we read1  #8,there are some brutes
 that seem to have as much knowledge and
 reason  as some that are called        
men#cg4' ,pope1 who pursues much the    
same track  in his #8,essay on ,man1'   
permits himself to speak of #8the       
half-reasoning  elephant4' ,any one who 
doubts the appropriateness of such an   
epithet1  not only to the elephant but  
to many other animals1 should begin to  

study the ways and doings of the lower  
creatures with an eye to this  very     
question1--at every turn asking himself 
how the action observed  can be         
accounted for by a blind irrational     
instinct4 ,a stumbling  horse1 for      
example1 that is generally beaten for   
stumbling1 starts  after a false step   
before the lash is applied4 ,how        
ridiculous will it  be to ascribe to    
horses an instinct of starting after    
stumbling--a  conditional instinct1 that
 appears only in those horses that have 
been previously beaten when they        
stumbled6 ,we need not suppose1 as      
,lord ,bacon appears to have done1 that 
#8dogs know the dog-killer' by a  kind  
of power of divination#ch4 ,by their    
watchful habits1 and quick  inference   
from acute observation of the few       
particulars they are able  to           
comprehend1 it can scarcely be doubted  
that dogs learn something of  the       
dispositions and intentions of mankind1 
recognize their humours1  and           

distinguish those who are friendly to   
themselves from those who are  hostile4 
,numberless writers have noticed the    
different dispositions of the lower     
animals1 differing not merely in        
separate species1 but in various        
individuals of the same4 ,there has been
 no scruple in taking the brutes        
themselves as types and emblems of moral
 qualities4 ,almost every vice  and     
virtue has been unsparingly assigned to 
one or other of the brute  creation4    
,they are brave or cowardly1 savage and 
treacherous1 gentle  and generous1      
industrious1 idle1 obedient1 wayward1   
affectionate1  malicious1 working always
 for the common good1 or full of        
rapacity  and selfishness4 ,it is likely
 enough that we often misapply these    
epithets1 and call that courage which is
 only consciousness of  strength1 and   
that malignant ferocity which is really 
a hungry stomach  and a badly-furnished 
larder2 for such mistakes we commit also
 in  judging of our fellow-men4 ,but    

there are many beautiful instances on   
record in which dumb creatures have     
shown themselves capable beyond         
question of faithful friendship1 and    
therefore as possessing at least  the   
beginnings1 if not any high advancement1
 of a moral nature4 ,none  perhaps is   
more beautiful than that told by ,henry 
,brookes1 a writer  of the last century1
 about one of the lions in the ,tower of
 ,london4  ,a little spaniel picked up  
in the streets was thrown into the cage 
of the largest of these beasts1 called  
for his size the king's lion4           
#8,immediately the little animal        
trembled1 and shivered1 and crouched1   
and threw itself on its back1 and put   
forth its tongue1 and held up  its paws1
 in supplicatory attitudes1 as an       
acknowledgment of superior  power1 and  
praying for mercy4 ,in the meantime the 
lordly brute1 instead  of devouring it1 
beheld it with an eye of philosophic    
inspection4  ,he turned it over with one
 paw1 and then turned it over with the  

other1 and smelled to it1 and seemed    
desirous of courting a further          
acquaintance4 ,from this day the        
strictest friendship commenced between  
them1 a friendship consisting of all    
possible affection and tenderness  on   
the part of the lion1 and of the utmost 
confidence and boldness on  the part of 
the dog1 insomuch that he would lay     
himself down to sleep1  within the fangs
 and under the jaws of his terrible     
patron4'    ,the sequel of the story is 
pathetic4 ,to tell it briefly1 in twelve
  months the little spaniel sickened and
 died4 ,the lion at first supposed  him 
to be asleep1 but finding that all his  
efforts to awaken him were  in vain1 he 
was filled with intense anguish1 would  
not allow the dead  body to be removed1 
refused all sustenance or comfort1      
spending his  time between rage and     
grief1 till after five days of such an  
existence1  one morning he was found    
dead1 with his head lovingly reclined on
 the  carcase of his little friend#ci4  

,were this only a fable instead of an   
actual incident1 there is nothing  in it
 revolting to our sense of probability1 
because we are perfectly  aware that the
 lower animals constantly give          
indications of what in  ourselves we    
call the moral feelings4 ,we continually
 see them behaving  as we ourselves     
behave when we submit to self-sacrifice 
for the sake of  those we love4    ,we  
see many animals in possession of laws  
and constitutions answering  to our own 
in all but one particular1 namely1 that 
theirs appear to be  fixed while ours   
are continually changing4 ,but most     
likely we overrate  both the fixed      
character of theirs1 and the instability
 of our own4  ,changes in the politics  
of an oyster may easily escape the      
notice of  a man in the midst of some   
vast revolution 7as he thinks it7 of    
human  affairs1 some vast revolution    
which proves in the end to be nothing   
more than a change of names4 ,for       
mankind the acquisition of language  has

 indefinitely quickened the movement of 
ideas1 but where language is  without   
the aids of writing and printing1 as    
among savage tribes1 and  where the     
language itself is an imperfect         
instrument of thought1 the  same routine
 seems to prevail from generation to    
generation4 ,fashion in  dress changes  
but slowly when the dress itself is     
nothing but a girdle2  and the fashions 
of the mind change with as little       
facility when ideas  and wants1 and the 
means of expressing the one and         
gratifying the  other1 are all alike few
 and extremely simple4    ,so simple are
 the wants and ideas of the savage1 so  
little above those  of the elephant and 
the ape1 that ,mr4 ,wallace finds       
himself driven  to the conclusion that  
the savage #8in his large and           
well-developed  brain possesses an organ
 quite disproportionate to his actual   
requirements--an organ that seems       
prepared in advance1 only to be  fully  
utilized as he progresses in            

civilization4' ,but anything quite      
disproportionate to its actual place in 
nature cannot have been  produced       
according to the theory of development4 
,this theory therefore  ,mr4 ,wallace   
deems and declares inapplicable to the  
brain and mind of  man4 ,in support of  
his view he adduces several             
circumstances both of  man's bodily and 
mental constitution1 which he considers 
this theory  incapable of explaining4   
,he maintains that natural selection    
will not  account for those rudiments of
 logical1 moral1 and sthetic faculties  
which are to be found in uncivilized    
man2 for the nakedness of the  human    
skin1 though hair upon the back would be
 of essential service to  the unclad    
savage2 for the absence of prehensile   
power from the human  foot1 a power     
which he thinks would be useful1 or for 
those perfections  of hand and voice    
which he thinks would be useless1 to    
uncultivated  human beings4 ,the        
inference he draws #8from this class of 

phenomena is1  that a superior          
intelligence has guided the development 
of man in a  definite direction and for 
a special purpose1 just as man guides   
the  development of many animal and     
vegetable forms4'    ,in this           
illustration he overlooks the           
circumstance that man's selection  is   
after all nothing more nor less than    
part and parcel of natural  selection4  
,in his argument from the various uses  
and powers of the hand  and brain1 which
 could have been of no service to men in
 a wild state1  he neglects the         
consideration that what is selected     
through being  useful in one direction  
may incidentally become useful in       
another4  ,had he employed his usual    
ingenuity on the question of man's      
hairless  skin1 he might have seen the  
possibility of its #8selection' through 
its  superior beauty or the health      
attaching to superior cleanliness4 ,at  
any rate it is surprising that he should
 picture to himself a superior          

intelligence plucking the hair from the 
backs of savage men1 7to whom  according
 to his own account it would have been  
useful and beneficial7  in order that   
the descendants of the poor shorn       
wretches might1 after  many deaths from 
cold and damp1 in the course of many    
generations take  to tailoring and      
dabbling in bricks and mortar4 ,in      
regard to the voice  he makes an        
assertion which is surely impossible for
 himself or any one  else to prove1     
namely1 that #8savages certainly never  
choose their wives  for fine voices4'   
,but upon this assertion the whole of   
his argument  about the voice depends4  
,and as for the stress which he lays    
upon the  rudimentary moral and sthetic 
faculties of savages1 we have shown that
  numbers of other animals likewise have
 rudimentary moral faculties1  while    
,mr4 ,wallace himself makes it probable 
that many have a taste for  colour#dj1  
and that #8their powers of vision and   
their faculties of  perception and      

emotion must be essentially of the same 
nature as our  own#da4'    ,truly in one
 sense every variation is prepared in   
advance1 only to be  fully utilized in  
the future progress of the creature that
 varies4  ,every variation1 ,i doubt    
not1 is so prepared in advance by a     
superior  intelligence1 but under the   
general laws which that intelligence    
has ordained1 and not by a special      
interference4 ,the real progress  of    
each creature1 within the spheres at    
least of consciousness and              
intelligence1 would seem to consist in  
its growing capacity for  perceiving and
 understanding1 for entering into       
fellowship with1 beings  superior to    
itself4 ,in mental powers the dog and   
the horse become more  and more like    
man1 the closer and the more continuous 
the intercourse4  ,could they learn our 
language or we theirs1 the progress     
might be  indefinitely hastened4 ,in the
 general progress onwards and upwards1  
man1 it may be believed1 then first     

became the indisputable lord and  chief 
over his fellow animals1 when his reason
 had so far advanced  that he could     
comprehend the idea of ,god1 when his   
reason had grown  into a capacity of    
hearing the divine voice1 which since   
then1 not by  interference with physical
 conditions1 but by intercourse of mind 
with  mind1 has led him forward step by 
step from darkness into twilight1  from 
the twilight is still leading him       
forward1 as his eyes become able  to    
bear it1 towards the beauty of the      
rosy-fingered dawn2 and just as  those  
of the lower animals are considered the 
most intelligent which  make the most   
successful efforts at intercourse with  
man and at serving  him1 so1 by a true  
analogy1 may the philosopher deem those 
men and  those races of men to be       
furthest on the path of enlightenment   
who know  most of ,god and serve ,him   
best4          ,,human ,,nature ,,and   
,,brute ,,nature4#db      ,a poor slave1
 named ,androcles1 escaped from his     

master into a sandy  desert4 ,while     
there a lion came suddenly upon him1 and
 by signs made  him understand that it  
was in an agony of pain4 ,this the slave
 was  able to relieve by extracting a   
large thorn from its paw and by gentle  
treatment of the wound4 ,from this time 
the lion shared its prey with  the man1 
till ,androcles1 pining for human       
society1 and facing even  death to      
regain it1 at length gave himself up to 
his master4 ,it so  happened that the   
slave was sent to ,rome to be exposed to
 wild beasts  at the same time that the 
very lion which he had befriended was   
sent thither1 among many others1 to     
supply the cruel sports of the          
amphitheatre4 ,the moment came when     
,androcles was to be torn in pieces4  ,a
 huge famished lion rushed forth in fury
 upon him2 then paused1 crept  gently   
towards him1 and ended by fawning upon  
him with caressing  movements4 ,it was  
the lion he had known in the desert4    
,this is no fable1 but a piece of       

well-known history2 and the sequel is   
equally well-known1 that the applause   
and admiration of all beholders  at this
 wonderful instance of fraternity       
between man and beast1 at this          
marvellous exemplification of the powers
 of memory and gratitude in a  wild     
animal1 secured the lives both of slave 
and lion4    ,had this been recorded in 
the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 in that noble  
and  reverent phraseology which so often
 leaves out of sight all secondary      
causes as by comparison insignificant1  
and ascribes all that is good  and      
wonderful directly to ,god1 there can be
 little doubt that it would  have borne 
a striking resemblance to the miracles  
wrought in favour of  ,elijah and       
,daniel2 when for the one ,god commanded
 the ravens to feed  him1 and the ravens
 brought him bread and flesh in the     
morning and  bread and flesh in the     
evening2 and for the other ,god sent his
 angel  and stopped the mouths of the   
lions even in their den1 and they did   

him  no hurt4 ,explain these miracles as
 you will1 and the kindred one quoted   
by ,st4 ,peter1 or accept them all      
without explanation as occurrences  out 
of the course of nature and beyond our  
comprehension1 it still  follows from   
the language of the sacred writers that 
they at least  supposed these brute     
creatures capable of intelligence1 an   
intelligence  sufficient to receive the 
divine commands and to avoid1 so far as 
they  might1 opposition to ,god's will4 
,for how else could there be any moral  
teaching in the circumstance that #8the 
dumb ass speaking with man's  voice     
forbad the madness of the prophet8' ,how
 else can the miracle seem  anything    
else or anything better than a piece of 
puerile conjuring8  ,but this faculty1  
which the sacred writers therefore      
attribute to the  brutes1 the faculty of
 hearing and obeying the voice of ,god1 
is the  basis of the highest            
intelligence1 the basis of all true     
morality and  religion4    ,that which  

we are now concerned to prove is1 that  
human reason is an  outgrowth and       
development of a faculty common to the  
whole animal  creation2 that we are the 
heirs of the past in fact1 as we are    
inheritors of the future in hope2 that  
an incalculable multitude of  small     
advantages acquired in successive       
generations has brought man to  his     
present vantage-ground of superiority2  
and that this very footing  of advantage
 has now become in its turn simply the  
starting-point for  future improvement  
to an estate indefinitely higher and    
better4 ,it may  well be impossible in a
 few minutes' discourse to do more than 
indicate  the bare outline of the proof2
 and even this might seem inappropriate 
to the time and place1 did we not hope  
to show further that these  opinions1   
startling or even dangerous as they may 
seem to some1 give  support to high     
principles of humanity1 and are in      
accordance with the  course and progress
 of ,god's revelation of ,himself to    

mankind4    ,it is well established that
 the human body in all its parts        
corresponds  to the structure of certain
 of the lower animals4 ,when first      
discovered  this was extremely shocking 
to the sentiments of mankind1 shocking  
to their pride1 but shocking also to    
their religious sentiment1  because they
 had been accustomed to speak of the    
#8human form divine1'  to represent the 
supreme ,god1 #8,jehovah1 ,jove1 or     
,lord1' as wearing  the form and acting 
with the members of a man1 and because  
in the  writings sacred alike to the    
,jew and to the ,christian1 they found  
it  written that ,god created man in    
,his own image2 in the image of ,god    
created ,he him4' ,they did not stop to 
enquire what sort of creation  was      
intended or what sort of likeness4 ,they
 failed to observe that  the vague      
indefinite notion they entertained of a 
bodily likeness was  inconsistent with  
the ,christian's cardinal doctrine of   
the ,incarnation1  according to which it

 is not man that wears the form of ,god1
 but ,god  that took upon him the form  
of man4    ,it will now for a time      
perhaps seem equally shocking that the  
mind  of man1 which alone is left him   
for the divine resemblance1 should      
notwithstanding have been developed from
 the mind of a brute creature1  or if   
not developed1 at any rate framed upon  
the same type and pattern4    ,a broad  
line has till lately been drawn between 
reason and instinct1  instinct appearing
 in a large number of instances to do or
 even to  surpass the work of reason1   
but within an exceedingly limited       
sphere1  and according to a fixed       
invariable course4 ,ingenious and       
thoughtful  men1 however1 taking their  
opinions not from hearsay and tradition1
 but  founding them on careful          
observation of the works and ways of    
,god in  nature itself1 have now shown  
the baselessness of this ancient        
estimate4    ,the bird building its nest
 does not follow an invariable rule1    

but accommodates itself to              
circumstances1 to the materials of the  
locality1 to the requirements of        
defence1 as man does with his own       
habitations4 ,there is no proof that the
 bird builds untaught by its  elders1 or
 that it does not improve by practice4  
,since wasps have been  known to        
construct their nest out of paper1      
itself a fabric of human  invention1 it 
is impossible they can have chosen their
 material by an  original instinct4 ,the
 cells which various bees construct     
attain to  various degrees of           
perfection1 and imperfections may be    
found in the  most perfect4 ,it has     
indeed been a curious fancy for men so  
long to  entertain1 that though they    
were created in the image of ,god to    
have  dominion over the lower creatures1
 yet those creatures without reason1    
without teaching1 without the           
,god-likeness1 should be able to surpass
  them1 by a miracle or a mystery1 in   
the accuracy or perfection of their     

works4    ,the pursuit which man in a   
low state of civilization has ever      
thought  most noble is that of war4 ,the
 essence of war lies in the combination 
of forces and the choice of opportunity4
 ,of both these the lower  animals are  
known to be capable4 ,their armies      
resemble human armies in  following     
leaders1 in posting sentinels1 in       
carrying off captives1 in  making       
slaves4 ,creatures that are very weak   
combine not unfrequently  to repel or to
 destroy an antagonist immensely too    
strong for their  individual efforts4   
,that rooks and other animals try1 and  
execute  justice upon1 offenders against
 the laws and customs of their society  
is probable1 if it cannot be absolutely 
proved4    ,the objection is sure to be 
urged that if the dumb animals have the 
progressive plastic intelligence which  
is thus claimed for them1  it ought1 in 
the innumerable generations which have  
existed1 to  have attained to something 
far higher than there is any pretence   

for thinking it to have done4 ,but this 
objection leaves important              
considerations out of sight4 ,it is true
 here1 as in so many cases1  that to him
 that hath shall more be given4 ,the    
intelligence of man  reached a point not
 all at once but by degrees1 at which it
 was able  to invent helps and          
appliances for its own benefit and      
improvement1  and thenceforward its     
strides were more rapid and its         
distinction from  lower intelligences   
more marked4 ,cancel the art of         
printing1 cancel  the signs of the      
alphabet1 cancel the forms of articulate
 language1  and with each one of these  
steps you will thrust back and degrade1 
not  perhaps every single human         
intellect1 but certainly the whole mass 
and average of human intelligence4      
,there is no need to ask or answer  the 
question whether thought without        
language is possible3 without  language 
thought cannot move1 it has no grasp    
upon the world2 it may  flicker for a   

moment in the mind that kindles it1 as a
 light under a  bushel1 but it cannot   
shine before men that they may see its  
goodness  and glorify their ,father in  
heaven4 ,we see the proof of this in    
races  of men that have no printed      
books1 no symbols for writing1 and but  
feeble imperfect languages4             
,civilization is wanting to them2 their 
worship is degraded2 in their habits and
 general morality they rise but  little 
above the brute creation4 ,moreover1    
century after century they  continue    
without making any apparent improvement 
or advance4 ,contrast  or compare with  
these the lower animal creation1 and it 
will be found1  if not in its separate  
members1 still in the whole group1 not  
to fall  so infinitely below humanity as
 human beings have long been pleased to 
imagine3 for the lower animals can be   
taught to recognize man as their        
superior and friend1 though his mind is 
beyond their comprehension1  and a      
similar recognition is exactly what we  

men have to attain to in  regard to     
,god2 they can be taught by pleasure and
 pain1 motives by  which we ourselves   
both in childhood and in age are taught1
 motives by  which ,god ,himself        
declares that ,he teaches us1 if we are 
to believe ,his  word4    ,that they are
 capable of our virtues has been shown  
in a notable  instance2 that they are   
capable of our follies is clear in the  
conspicuous vanity of the peacock2 and  
no weakness cleaves more  pertinaciously
 to the human mind than this of vanity1 
which is often  found combined even with
 the noblest intellect4 ,that they are  
influenced by feelings like ours may be 
learned from the gay plumage  of the    
bird of ,paradise1 acquired under the   
same influence of the  preference and   
admiration of others1 for which fair    
women wear fair  raiment1 and for which 
the soldier1 at extra risk to his life1 
is clad  in scarlet4    ,according to a 
principle now well known1 the earlier   
the period of life  the greater the     

resemblance is likely to be between     
creatures akin to  one another4 ,hence  
we may explain the phenomenon that some 
children1  throughout their childhood   
prone to causeless mischief and stubborn
  resistance1 become at length          
reasonable and self-controlled men4 ,as 
for the child1 so for the brute1 a      
future of enlightened reason and        
self-control may be in store4 ,the      
largest and most generous minds are  now
 beginning to contemplate the           
possibility of an immortal destiny  for 
all animals whatsoever4 ,to my own mind1
 as doubtless to many of  yours1 such a 
conception has often seemed fanciful and
 ridiculous1  as the greatest and best  
notions often do to minds that are      
narrow  or unexpanded by a wisdom higher
 than their own4 ,so it was that the    
gossips and philosophers of ,athens     
mocked when they heard of the           
resurrection of the dead1 though ,st4   
,paul was preaching only the            
resurrection of human beings4 ,to extend

 this belief in the resurrection  to all
 the animate creation is to extend our  
conception of the power  and the        
goodness of ,god1 to make easy many     
things that otherwise seem  appallingly 
difficult in regard to ,his justice and 
,his mercy4 ,does  it seem a thing      
impossible with you that ,god should    
raise the dead8  ,is the ,lord's arm    
shortened that it cannot save1 whether  
it be man1  or the worm that ,scripture 
deems his fitting emblem8 ,or1 as the   
,jews  were jealous that the ,gentiles  
should be saved1 are we jealous that    
for creatures which we slaughter1       
trample on1 enslave1 and crowd out  of  
existence1 happiness and life should yet
 be in store as well as for  ourselves8 
,be willing to believe that language1   
reason1 spiritual insight1 which  is the
 reason elevated to the capacity of     
knowing ,god--be willing to  believe    
that these have been gradual            
acquisitions to humanity1 and the  whole
 course of ,god's ,providence will at   

once stand out in a clearer1  purer     
light4 ,supposing the soul of man       
thousands of years back to have  been   
precisely what the soul of man is now1  
its requirements and its  aptitudes must
 have been the same then as they are    
to-day1 so that  if the doctrine of the 
,trinity is essential now1 it must have 
been  essential then1 when it had not   
been revealed4 ,on the same supposition1
  too1 either the record of ,god's will 
in the earliest portion of the  ,bible  
is incredibly defective1 or the record  
of it in the completed  canon of        
,scripture must be charged with         
bewildering superfluity4    ,but ,god   
has not dealt so with ,his children4 ,he
 has given them their  heavenly food as 
they were able to bear it4 ,first by    
allegory and  parable ,he unfolds ,his  
will1 as a father tells his little ones 
the  stories which they love to hear1   
minding ever within the stories and by  
means of the stories to present the     
truth1 the lessons of the beautiful  and

 the upright4 ,the earliest revelation  
of ,god presents ,him in the  simplest  
form1 the easiest for us to understand1 
as the ,great ,patriarch  of mankind4   
,along with this revelation came simple 
commands and  prohibitions1 the         
requirements of external sacrifice1 the 
promise and  warning of temporal rewards
 and punishments4 ,the law of           
retaliation1 an  eye for an eye1 a tooth
 for a tooth1 seems brutal now1 but it  
is the  beginning of a noble education4 
,it says indeed1 #8,do to others as they
  have done to you1' but then in regard 
to injuries it bids you exact  no more  
than you have suffered1 instead of      
taking a brutal revenge by  repaying the
 injury tenfold3 and in regard to       
benefits it bids you  never forget to be
 grateful4 ,from it springs the higher  
and better law1  of doing to others1 not
 as they have done to you1 but as you   
would  have them do to you4 ,without    
these beginnings the human mind could   
never have comprehended or received the 

highest education--that we are  not only
 to forgive but to love our enemies4    
,the system of material  sacrifices     
trained men to a capability of          
understanding and of offering  the      
sacrifice of the heart2 the outward     
cleansings demanded by the law  led them
 by degrees to recognize the need of    
inward purity4 ,by the law  came the    
knowledge of sin4 ,not till man knew    
that sin was sinful could  he either    
wish for or receive a ,saviour4 ,hence  
it was that ,christ came  not at the    
beginning1 but only in the fulness of   
time4 ,the gift of the  ,holy ,ghost was
 not outpoured till men in part were    
ready to receive  it4 ,that it is still 
bestowed with so sparing a hand is not  
the fault  of ,god's liberality1 but of 
our backwardness to believe in ,god1 to 
commune with ,him1 and thereby to grow  
up into ,his likeness4 ,we are the      
mirror in which the divine image shines1
 if only the mirror can be made  to     
receive the requisite brightness4    ,to

 know that sin is sinful is to become   
conscious of the will of ,god1  to      
become conscious of a good and perfect  
will to which our own ought  to be      
conformed4 ,not to know this will is to 
be still brutish2 to know  it only by   
the teaching of others is to be still   
among the things of  a child2 to know it
 of oneself1 which is in other words to 
know it by  the teaching of the ,holy   
,ghost1 who alone can implant the       
doctrine with  unfailing demonstration  
and enable us to receive ,his           
discipline1--this  at length is to be a 
man made in the image of ,god4 ,for the 
fear of  the ,lord is the beginning of  
wisdom1 and to depart from evil that  is
 understanding2 and to love ,god with   
all the heart and all the  understanding
 and all the soul and all the strength1 
is the single aim  as it is the crowning
 effort of the highest and purest       
intelligence4  ,to be able to pray to   
,god is the glory of reason2 to do it1  
is the  safeguard of life4              

,,the ,,lapse ,,of ,,time4      ,the    
divergence of opinion between scientific
 and unscientific persons  is scarcely  
anywhere more conspicuous than in their 
measurements of the  age of the world we
 live in4 ,a popular impression still   
prevails that  the old beldame earth1 as
 ,hotspur calls it1 is about six        
thousand years  of age4 ,a little margin
 is sometimes allowed4 ,by an exercise  
of heroic  liberality a period of ten or
 twelve thousand years is occasionally  
conceded for the earth's existence4 ,any
 chronology discontented with  these    
ample limits comes within the domain of 
rash and dangerous  speculation4 ,some1 
indeed1 who would fain conciliate all   
parties1 are  willing to extend the     
bounds on certain conditions4 ,they will
 grant a  large extra slice of time1    
provided that during that period the    
earth  was a shapeless uninhabited lump1
 or if inhabited1 not inhabited by  men4
 #8,come1 now1' says the cheap-jack1    
#8,i'll tell you what ,i'll do with     

you2 ,i'll throw you in another five    
thousand years2 fifteen thousand  years6
 and take the lot4 ,what6 not do8 ,i'll 
make it twenty thousand4  ,now1 ,i'll   
tell you what ,i'll do with you3 ,i'll  
make it five-and-twenty  thousand years1
 and if that won't satisfy you1 you     
aren't worth arguing  with4'    ,what   
scientific men think of the cheap-jack's
 offer it is the object of  this essay  
to consider4    ,the problem upon which 
many thoughts and speculations of       
science are  for the moment converging  
is the origin of life4 ,there are some  
who  believe that under certain chemical
 conditions living creatures are        
continually coming into existence1      
ungenerated by any living parent1  born 
as it were without birth1 acquiring an  
animated existence1 with  powers of     
motion1 feeding1 and reproduction1 from 
substances previously  wanting in one or
 all of these capacities2 such          
creatures1 in short1  as1 if asked for  
their parentage1 could but answer1 each 

for itself1 my  father was an atom1 and 
my mother a molecule4 ,it should be     
remembered  that the little animals     
supposed to arise in the manner         
described first  become visible1 if at  
all1 as the tiniest objects that        
microscopes  can detect4 ,but whether   
there is or is not in these days a      
continual  coming into existence of     
these infinitesimal pigmies1 they are   
just  such productions as the ,theory of
 ,development would suppose to have     
arisen originally1 constituting the     
first outburst of life upon the  globe1 
ancestral to the noblest forms of       
animated nature now extant1  progenitors
 in an unbroken line of man himself4 ,as
 a rule1 among living  things we find   
that offspring bear a tolerably exact   
resemblance  to their parents4 ,the     
lower the organism the less easy is it  
to  distinguish specimens of one        
generation from those of another2 and   
even in the most highly organized       
creatures the points of resemblance     

generally far outweigh the points of    
difference between the parents  and     
their children4 ,in short1 under        
ordinary circumstances1 not one         
generation only1 but a hundred1 may pass
 away without registering  any          
perceptible alteration in the character 
of a species4 ,a hundred  generations of
 mankind would require a period of about
 three thousand  years4 ,a hundred      
generations of less important creatures 
might not  perhaps require even as large
 a number of hours4 ,but between the two
  extremes the necessary periods would  
bear a kind of ratio to the  perfection 
of the organism4 ,variations might now  
and then follow one  another in quick   
succession1 and then a pause come of a  
thousand  generations or so before any  
further changes in the character of a   
species4    ,such are the conditions    
under which ,mr4 ,darwin and his        
followers  believe it possible for the  
whole sequence of changes to have been  
effected1 which have ended in peopling  

the whole earth with a countless        
variety of the most diverse forms of    
life4 ,many persons are horrified  at   
the notion of linking together a man and
 a monkey even by the most  distant ties
 of consanguinity2 what will they say to
 a genealogy which  begins with an      
almost invisible speck and ends with a  
,patagonian  giant--a genealogy which   
asserts that1 through the slow process  
of  minute changes occurring for the    
most part at rare intervals1 our  fair  
humanity has been developed or evolved  
out of creatures which  no unaided human
 eye could distinguish from the dust on 
which we  carelessly trample4 ,to some  
ears such a theory must sound wild and  
preposterous beyond all the boundaries  
of sane and rational thinking4  ,and1 in
 truth1 no censure could be too severe1 
no ridicule too keen for  so extravagant
 a piece of folly as this theory must   
be1 if the old and  still prevailing    
notions about the age of the world have 
any foundation  in fact4 ,it only begins

 to be reasonable1 if we can afford to  
stretch  our notions of history from the
 narrow margin of six thousand to the   
broader field of six hundred thousand   
years1 with an indefinite past in  the  
background4    ,this vast lapse of time1
 as commensurate with the existence of  
the  inhabited globe1 is essential to   
the ,theory of ,development4 ,it must be
  established1 as it has been1 by       
independent evidence of its own1 before 
it can give to that theory its          
absolutely necessary support4 ,but the  
,theory of ,development in its turn     
helps the mind to believe and realize   
this enormous lapse of time1 with its   
seemingly never-ending march and  flow1 
rank upon rank1 wave upon wave1 by      
finding work and employment  for all its
 almost measureless duration4 ,it       
explains1 as it were1 why  the drama of 
life still goes on1 why the play was not
 long ago played  out1 and the curtain  
let fall upon all the busy multitudinous
 actors4    ,time of itself does        

nothing2 but nothing can be done without
 time4  ,it is not a personal agent1 but
 a necessary condition4 ,we cannot  even
 think1 much less reason1 of things as  
occurring out of time  and independently
 of it1 any more than we can think or   
reason of  matter as existing           
independent of space4 ,every occurrence 
takes  time3 and yet we may not leap    
from this fact to the conclusion that  a
 countless multitude of occurrences will
 require a vast duration of  time4      
,professor ,tyndal1 in his ,lecture on  
the ,scientific ,use of the             
,imagination1 refers to waves of light  
less than #a_/ejjjj of an inch in       
length4 ,how many do you suppose of such
 waves would be required to  compass a  
mile8 ,how many to accomplish the       
#ahe1jjj miles which light  travels in a
 second8 ,each undulation is a separate 
occurrence1 so that  we have millions of
 millions of occurrences following one  
upon another  in a second of time4 ,in  
studying1 therefore1 the complete fabric

 of  the globe1 or even of the whole    
material universe as far as it comes    
within our ken1 the problem for solution
 is not whether these great  results    
could or could not have been brought to 
pass in an indefinitely  short space of 
time1 in the twinkling of an eye1 as one
 might say1 but  whether the space of   
time employed in their production has   
actually and  in fact been indefinitely 
short or indefinitely long4 ,we ought   
also to  bear in mind that the terms we 
use when we speak of long and short1    
are relative not absolute--relative to  
the duration of our own lives1  or to   
some other arbitrary standard which we  
are pleased to set up for  purposes of  
comparison4 ,thus a year is long        
compared with a minute1 but  short      
compared with a millennium2 a thousand  
years would be an enormous  length for  
the life of a mortal man1 but compared  
with the ceaseless  flow of ages1 which 
we call eternity1 this same thousand    
years becomes1  as it were1 an          

imperceptible speck1 less than a drop of
 water compared  to the ,atlantic1 a    
point of time so inconceivably minute1  
that no human  mind could grasp it as an
 intelligible unit of measurement4 ,for 
time1  we have an inexhaustible past on 
which to draw4 ,against any given       
theory of production1 no objection pure 
and simple that the theory  makes too   
large a demand upon time1 can be        
maintained4 ,an objection1  to be valid 
against the existence of life on the    
earth a million of  years back1 must    
postulate that there was no earth then  
in existence1  or none capable of       
supporting life2 for if we choose to    
stand by the  doctrine of final causes1 
life upon the earth must have begun as  
soon  as life upon the earth was        
possible1 otherwise we should have a    
fair  and perfect design with its       
purpose unaccomplished2 or1 if we prefer
  the ,theory of ,development carried   
out to its legitimate consequences1     
equally must we admit1 that as soon as  

the earth was fitted for living         
creatures1 living creatures would be    
generated upon it4    ,in tracing back  
the duration of the globe1 the first    
demand of the  uninitiated will be for  
the written evidence of historical      
records4 ,the  popular impression claims
 to be founded upon such evidence of the
 most  authoritative description4       
,little do the upholders of this        
impression  in general understand that  
they are building their faith1 not upon 
the  ,book of ,genesis1 or the          
inspiration of the ,hebrew lawgiver1 but
 on  the arithmetical speculations of an
 ,irish archbishop1 who lived in the    
seventeenth century4    ,before we can  
accept the ,hebrew genealogies as       
competent data for  historical          
chronology1 we must understand the      
principles on which they  were framed4  
,in ancient languages we have abundant  
evidence to show  that the ties of blood
 were not as sharply distinguished as   
among  ourselves4 ,the same word        

sufficed to designate son and grandson1 
and  even the most remote descendant4 ,a
 man's heir was called his son2  an     
usurping successor might receive the    
same title#dc2 and1 beyond  all this1 it
 has been shown to have been #8a common 
practice with  the ,jews to distribute  
genealogies into divisions1 each        
containing  some favourite or mystical  
number2 and that1 in order to do this1  
generations were either repeated or left
 out4' ,some persons1 perhaps1  will    
say1 #8,we don't believe it1 or we don't
 believe it in regard to  any of the    
biblical genealogies4' ,and yet the very
 first chapter of  the ,new ,testament  
is the most conclusive and              
incontrovertible proof of  the          
statement2 for our ,lord's genealogy#dd 
is there expressly divided  into three  
periods of fourteen generations each1   
and the middle period  has been stripped
 of three generations in order to bring 
it down to the  pre-determined number4  
,the names of three well-known princes  

7,ahaziah1  ,joash1 ,amaziah71 whose    
histories occupy several chapters in the
 ,second  ,book of ,kings1 are omitted1 
and ,amaziah's son is described1 without
  further note or comment1 as a son     
begotten by one who was really his      
father's great-grandfather4 ,in a matter
 so obvious1 there cannot attach  to the
 compiler of the genealogy the very     
faintest suspicion of bad  faith4 ,he   
was following the custom of his country1
 for reasons then  deemed1 and perhaps  
in those days actually being1 good and  
sufficient4  ,can we make as            
satisfactory an apology for men in the  
present day1  who shut their eyes to the
 nature of the evidence on which they   
build  opinions about the age of the    
world opposed to the discoveries of     
science8 ,if in the first century of the
 ,christian era1 in times of            
comparative enlightenment1 by men of    
approved truth and uprightness1         
genealogies could be compiled without   
the smallest regard being paid  to the  

actual number of successive generations1
 it becomes impossible  to attach any   
value as chronological evidence to      
,hebrew genealogies  fifteen hundred1   
or1 for all that we can tell1 fifteen   
thousand  years more ancient4 ,had the  
genealogy on which this conclusion rests
  admitted a chance of error1 had there 
been any motive for fraud in its        
construction1 did any suspicion lie     
against its authenticity1 the case      
would be weakened4 ,but just because    
there neither was nor could have  been  
error in the mind of the writer1 or     
deceit in his intention1 just  because  
what he wrote1 he wrote deliberately and
 of set purpose1 it is  certain that his
 record is not1 and was never meant to  
be1 a measure  of time2 and that those  
who persist in measuring time by similar
  records1 are the victims of a manifest
 delusion1 ensnared1 it may be  feared  
in too many cases1 with their eyes open4
    ,there is an old jest that1 in the  
pride of antiquity1 a ,welshman         

generally traces back his lineage not   
only as far as ,adam1 but a  great deal 
further4 ,nothing was easier1 before the
 age of historical  criticism1 than for 
men or nations1 whose real origin was   
lost in  obscurity1 to link their names 
to an illustrious past4 ,nothing was    
easier than to develope the obscurity   
itself into a long line of remote       
ancestors1 whose names and virtues could
 be invented and multiplied  at         
pleasure4 ,what the poet was only too   
willing to imagine1 the  mathematician  
seemed able to confirm1 by registering  
astronomical  occurrences in far-distant
 long-past ages with as much precision  
as  those which he predicted1 and       
predicted truly1 for his own and future 
times4 ,the ,hindoo chronology reckons  
the age of the world by millions  of    
years4 ,the ,egyptians twenty centuries 
ago used to tell of #ccj  kings of whom 
they knew no more than the names4 ,there
 were ,greeks who  claimed to be older  
than the moon2 others who anticipated   

the theory of  abiogenesis by claiming  
to be sprung from the earth itself      
without  the intervention of parents2   
and yet others1 who with more modesty   
or more pride1 as we please to regard   
it1 derived their origin from  gods and 
demigods4 ,none were willing to be      
thought new people4 ,the man  of        
yesterday1 the novus homo1 the upstart1 
the parvenu1 has ever  been disliked and
 laughed at by society4 ,and in like    
manner1 among  nations1 a new rival     
excites the fears and encounters the    
ridicule  of the established clique4    
,claims to antiquity1 therefore1 were as
  advantageous to possess as they were  
easy to forge4 ,those that have  been   
mentioned1 being unattested by any      
corroborative facts1 and1  where they   
are not obviously false1 being          
unsusceptible of proof1 are  worthless  
in themselves4 ,one thing they tend to  
show1 namely1 that all  remembrance of  
the real origin of mankind1 and of the  
date of that  origin1 had been          

absolutely lost to those ancient        
peoples4 ,from over  the sea1 from      
beyond the mountains1 from the bright   
east or the frozen  north1 they might   
know that their forefathers had made    
pilgrimage  in distant ages--or they    
might know of no time1 however far back1
  when the seat of their habitation had 
not been occupied by their own          
progenitors4 ,in either case their      
ignorance of primeval history is as     
absolute as it is conspicuous4 ,one     
prevailing tradition1 it is true1  is   
current alike in sacred and profane     
literature1 of a far-off golden  time1  
an age of simplicity1 when man conversed
 with the beasts of the  field1 when the
 earth brought forth her fruits         
spontaneously1 with  her bosom as yet   
unvexed by the ploughshare1 ere the     
knowledge or the  discrimination of good
 and evil had come into the world--the  
record1  in one word1 as all these      
details tend to prove1 of a time before 
man  had become a moral being2 a dim    

mysterious recollection1 almost like a  
dream1 of a time before the animal      
nature had been decisively exalted  into
 humanity4    ,some persons believe1    
against all probability of evidence1    
that spoken  language was a sudden      
original inspiration instead of a       
gradual  invention4 ,none1 however1     
assert the right of believing the same  
thing  in regard to letters or written  
language4 ,the progressive origin of    
alphabetical signs is admitted on all   
sides1 so that there must have  been a  
time when man had to trust to his       
fallible memory instead of  written     
memoranda4 ,the growth of               
picture-writing itself must have been   
extremely slow1 from the difficulty of  
establishing an agreement as to  the    
meaning of particular representations4  
,what this difficulty amounts  to may to
 some extent be tested any day in a     
picture-gallery1 where all  the         
appliances and skill of modern art are  
at our service4 ,without the  aid of a  

descriptive catalogue1 it is but seldom 
that any two accounts  of the meaning of
 the same picture would be found to     
agree4 ,the art of  drawing1 it may well
 be supposed1 was not an inspiration4   
,it had to be  invented4 ,the very idea 
of transmitting a record to future ages 
would  only occur with the advance of   
civilization4 ,the crumbling surface of 
the rock1 the decaying bark of trees1   
would be the first perishable and  soon 
obliterated manuscripts4 ,before account
 could be taken of months  and years1   
astronomy must have made some progress4 
,before the flow of  centuries could be 
accurately noted1 arithmetic must have  
advanced  far beyond the stage at which 
we still find it among numerous savage  
nations4 ,an ,esquimaux couple1 it is   
said1 find it difficult to count  their 
own children1 even when they are no more
 than four or five#de4    ,from these   
considerations alone we may feel        
perfectly certain that  numbers of ages 
elapsed before men acquired the means of

 recording  the duration of time by any 
definite measurements4 ,unconsciously   
and  without set purpose1 perhaps the   
very earliest tribes and the most       
untutored have left behind them traces  
not only of their existence but  of the 
date and era at which they lived2 traces
 which we are only now  beginning to    
decipher1 and to read with faltering    
lips4    ,all around us in ,england1 in 
,devonshire1 in ,torquay1 and all over  
the  globe1 lie the memorials of human  
beings1 of whose day and generation  the
 oldest historical records we possess   
know absolutely nothing4 ,here  and     
there the tale is told by a heap of     
shells4 ,from such heaps we know  what  
dishes were served at the ,dane's       
dinner-table1 at a time when  cereal    
crops were unknown in ,denmark1 and     
sea-weed was used instead of  salt#df4  
,oysters and cockles1 mussels and       
periwinkles1 seem to have  been ad      
libitum2 the stag1 the roe-deer1 and the
 wild boar were at  the service of that 

ancient ,dane as often as he could catch
 them with  his weapons of wood1 stone1 
horn1 or bone#dg2 when pork and venison 
were scarce1 his palate could content   
itself with dog or fox4 ,from the       
waters of the mountain-lake1 from the   
centre of the high-piled barrow1  in the
 circles of giant stones upon           
broad-stretching plain or wild          
moorland1 from peat-moss and            
railway-cutting and limestone cavern1   
we obtain1 as ,sir ,john ,lubbock and   
,mr4 ,pengelly and others have so  well 
shown1 the unwritten records of         
prehistoric man1 of human beings        
unnoticed in any credible history1 and  
preceding all well-established  definite
 historical dates whether of sacred or  
profane literature4  ,who reared the    
,titanic monuments of ,stonehenge and   
,abury we know  not4 ,we know not who   
constructed the extraordinary           
animal-mounds of  ,wisconsin in ,north  
,america--mounds hundreds of feet long1 
reared a  few feet above the level      

plains1 in the figures of men and beasts
 and  birds and reptiles4 ,these        
monuments1 if such they were intended to
 be1  must have demanded prodigious     
industry for their construction4 ,they  
imply a considerable population1 and    
some advance in artistic skill4  ,but   
why they were designed1 and who designed
 them1 are circumstances  alike unknown4
 ,it is necessary to press home this    
argument founded  upon our ignorance1   
and to dwell upon it with some emphasis1
 because  numbers of persons are pleased
 to imagine and assert that1 within two 
or three thousand years before the      
,christian era1 the whole human         
population of the globe was as it were  
still in the bud1 and that from  a      
single family1 not mustering a dozen    
members to start with1 all its  tribes  
have since then been derived1 with their
 endless diversities of  features1 hair1
 complexion1 customs1 tastes1 and other 
qualities both  of mind and body4       
,according to the old chronology we are 

to suppose  that within this limited    
space of time1 from under a single roof1
 the  children went forth1 spreading    
over all lands1 not only miraculously   
forgetting the common ancestral         
language1 but forgetting the arts1 the  
traditions1 the sentiments1 which they  
had in common1 retrograding in  some    
cases into a savage ferocity or an      
almost imbecile simplicity1  in others  
retaining or developing forms of an     
advanced civilization4  ,esquimaux and  
,hottentots1 ,japanese and ,red         
,indians1 the ,negro and  the ,greek1   
are thus united in ties of cousinship by
 no means remote4  ,arts1 monuments1 and
 modes of life essentially different in 
spirit and  character are supposed1     
within these narrow bounds of time1 to  
have  sprung up2 nor only to have sprung
 up1 but to have passed away1 leaving   
only a few faint vestiges to recall the 
artists1 the heroes1 the  lawgivers1 the
 national temper1 the genius of the     
time1 whereunto they  owed their        

existence4 ,it must surely be allowed   
that marriage customs  change with slow 
reluctance2 an alteration of the        
sentiment with which  women are regarded
 is not easily or quickly produced4 ,yet
 on no subject  are the practices and   
opinions of mankind more widely         
diversified4  ,one wife to one husband  
is in some places the rule2 but in      
others1  one husband to many wives1 one 
wife to many husbands1 or husbands  and 
wives without any special appropriation1
 which some societies  consider a       
selfish infringement of the general     
right4 ,according to the  customs of    
different nations1 wives must be fought 
for1 or stolen1  or purchased1 or caught
 in a race1 or wooed and won with       
pin-money  and other endearments4       
,according to the feeling of different  
races1  the wife is a chattel1 a beast  
of burden1 a slave1 a stewardess1 a     
domestic ornament1 an equal1 or a       
master#dh4 ,let it be granted that  many
 of these customs and sentiments may    

have been contemporaneous in  their     
growth or development1 the same thing   
cannot be admitted of the  different    
centres of colonization in which they   
grew and developed4 ,men  do not without
 cause quit their ancestral homes to    
found colonies in  remote parts of the  
world2 and the causes only arise at     
intervals4 ,when  the cause has arisen1 
and the new settlement been occupied1   
the exiles  retain for the most part1   
and long retain in affectionate         
remembrance  the manners and customs1   
the religion and laws1 of the           
mother-country2  or when the remembrance
 is other than affectionate1 they retain
 them  from the want of an alternative1 
from the conservatism in which all men  
to a greater or less degree participate1
 from the incapacity of the  human mind 
to strike out new customs1 or           
revolutionize ideas1 except by  a       
gradual and half-unconscious            
progression4    ,among the visible and  
tangible proofs of man's and the earth's

  antiquity1 few are more interesting   
than those presented in the  section1   
well known to geologists1 cut by the    
railway through the delta  of the       
,tinire1 a torrent flowing into the     
,lake of ,geneva#di4 ,three  layers of  
vegetable soil appear in the section1 at
 depths of four and  ten and nineteen   
feet respectively below the present     
surface4 ,these  layers contained       
distinctive relics4 ,in the first were  
found #8,roman  tiles and a coin1' in   
the second #8fragments of unvarnished   
pottery1  and a pair of tweezers in     
bronze2' in the third1 #8fragments of   
rude  pottery1 pieces of charcoal1      
broken bones1 and a human skeleton      
having  a small1 round1 and very thick  
skull4' ,the thick-headed owner of that 
skull is computed to have lived1 at the 
lowest estimate1 about five  thousand   
years ago4 ,but the cone of the delta   
began to be formed long  before the man 
was buried in it1 and higher up the     
stream another cone  is found about     

twelve times as large1 requiring        
therefore a time for  its formation     
about twelve times as long1 unless we   
have recourse to  that miserable refuge 
for the destitute in argument1 which    
consists in  supposing that causes now  
slow and comparatively regular1 operated
 in  former times with an incomparably  
greater speed and a more spasmodic      
violence1 of which no trace remains1 nor
 likelihood appears in the  record4 ,in 
a word1 we may infer that1 so far from  
the shapely order and  decorous         
arrangement of the earth's surface being
 only six thousand  years old1 it has   
taken no less than fifty or a hundred   
thousand years  to pile up this one     
little heap of mud and gravel4 ,the age 
of human  works buried under the        
fertilizing sediment of the stately     
,nile is much  disputed1 but there can  
be little doubt1 if we take into        
consideration  the ancient fluviatile   
deposits in terraces sometimes hundreds 
of  feet above the present alluvial     

plain1 that the long-unknown sources  of
 the mysterious river have produced ten 
myriad repetitions of the  annual       
overflow1 pouring down its waters to the
 sea through a thousand  centuries4#ej  
,but ,egypt and ,switzerland are a long 
way off2 geologizing in a               
railway-cutting has been before now a   
fatal employment2 and digging  pits     
forty feet deep into the mud of the     
,nile is an operation attended  with    
difficulties peculiar to itself4 ,here1 
however1 in ,torquay1 close  at hand1 we
 possess a register of time as compact1 
as accessible1 as  genuine1 as the      
,library of the ,british ,museum4       
,limestone1 it is well  known1 is formed
 beneath the waters of the sea4 ,when it
 appears above  the sea-level1 it must  
have been upheaved from its ocean-bed4  
,how long  a period must be allowed for 
the hill which contains ,kent's cavern  
to  have been formed by this double     
process1 may be left for the present  to
 the imagination4 ,how long a time      

elapsed before the cavern was  burst    
open or eaten out from the solid        
limestone1 we will not enquire4  ,thanks
 to the diligent exploration of it2     
thanks to the unwearied  courtesy of its
 scientific curators#ea1 the contents of
 the cavern1  or at least a portion of  
them1 are now well known4 ,not only do  
they  embrace the remains of animals not
 now existing in ,england1 but they     
embrace the remains of animals long     
since lost to the globe4 ,with these    
are mingled the products of human       
intelligence1 the weapons of the        
savage4 ,the cave-earth which1 as well  
as the stalagmite1 contains these       
relics of a most remote antiquity1 is   
itself permeated with films of          
stalagmite1 a conclusive proof of its   
gradual introduction4 ,over the  lower  
portions have been formed in succession 
three solid stalagmitic  floors1        
remnants of which have quite lately been
 discovered still  imbedded in the      
cavern#eb4 ,let us for a moment consider

 what this  implies4 ,if we transport   
ourselves to ,matlock ,bath in          
,derbyshire1 for  the small fee of a    
penny1 any one of its #8petrifying      
wells'#ec will  be open to our          
inspection4 ,in these curious grottoes  
whatever object  you please1 natural or 
artificial1 be it skull or the cap that 
once  covered it1 be it basket or bird1 
or shell or leaf1 may be encrusted  with
 a coating of stalagmite4 ,the          
inexperienced visitor would like to     
place an object in the well1 and to wait
 while the #8petrifying' waters  do     
their work4 ,he is surprised to find    
that in that case he must wait  and     
watch for months and years1 while the   
slow persevering stream falls  upon his 
treasure with its ceaseless drip1 drip1 
drip1 and that the  work so slowly      
accomplished would not be accomplished  
at all if the  flowing of the stream    
were hastened4 ,imagine1 then1 in this  
famous  cavern of ours what an          
interminable song1 though an            

intermittent one1  must have been sung  
with this drip1 drip1 drip1 through ages
 and ages1  to produce1 as in one place 
it has done1 a solid stalagmitic mass   
full  twelve feet in thickness4 ,now1   
according to ,usher's chronology1 we    
have  seventeen centuries from ,adam to 
the ,flood1 and twenty-three centuries  
from the ,flood to the age of ,julius   
,csar4 ,if this chronology is to  be    
accepted1 ,kent's cavern must have been 
filled either in the first  period or in
 the second4 ,as the same arguments will
 apply to each1 let  us assume that the 
second or longer period sufficed for    
this purpose1  and see what further     
admissions this assumption will involve4
 ,we have  three and twenty centuries at
 our disposal4 ,at the end of that time 
we know historically that ,britain was  
occupied by tribes more or less  savage1
 some of them going about almost naked1 
destitute of almost  all the arts of    
civilization4 ,we are to imagine the    
ancestors of this  wild race migrating  

from ,asia and slowly pioneering their  
way to the  western limits of ,europe4  
,necessity is the mother of invention2  
but  these men in their difficult       
adventurous travel through unknown seas 
and pathless jungles tenanted by        
dangerous beasts1 learn only how to     
forget4 ,they forget the use of brass   
and iron1 and take to weapons and  tools
 of flint2 they give up tillage2 they   
give up building strong  towers1 and    
shelter themselves in wooden huts or    
caves and dens of the  earth4 ,the      
climate of ,western ,asia is warm and   
sunny1 that of ,england  often1 and in  
many parts1 bleak and foggy and cold2   
therefore these  intelligent children of
 ,noah1 in order perhaps to harden      
themselves  in the process of           
acclimatization1 as they force their way
 into the  fog and mist1 instead of     
keeping or assuming the flowing robes of
 the  ,asiatic1 exchange their garments1
 at any rate in battle1 for a wash of   
paint4 ,how interesting it would be to  

have the family portraits of a          
,highland clan from the earliest times1 
showing how they gradually made  it     
fashionable to do without the various   
articles of clothing which one  by one  
they have been induced to resume#ed6    
,during the same epoch1  within the same
 limits of time1 migrating also from the
 warm regions  of ,asia1 came elephants 
and lions1 hyenas and bears1 the        
rhinoceros  and the elk4 ,little recked 
they then of change of climate1 which   
now  they so ill endure4 ,they prowled  
all over ,europe2 they swam across the  
,english ,channel4 ,yet before the      
historical period begins in ,gaul and   
,britain1 most of these species had had 
time not only to make their way         
thither1 not only to nourish and abound 
in these habitations1 but to  die out   
and to be forgotten4 ,we know for       
certain that elephants once  roamed over
 ,devon4 ,did they succumb to the flint 
weapons of the savage8  ,was the same   
savage able to extirpate the hyena and  

the lion1 though  the representatives of
 those fierce beasts still partially set
 us at  defiance in ,india1             
notwithstanding the rifles and gunpowder
 of modern  civilization8 ,let us       
imagine that within the specified time  
all that  has been mentioned could have 
happened1 and that some of the animals1 
such as the woolly rhinoceros1 had time 
to assume the characters of  northern   
species1 or that the climate had time   
for vast changes and  alterations1 or   
that the winds perhaps in those days    
blew hot and  cold with the same breath 
so as to suit arctic and tropical       
species  indifferently2--we must imagine
 further that within the same limits the
  three floors of stalagmite could have 
been formed in succession1 and  two of  
them successively broken up4 ,they must 
have been formed1 not  during the whole 
of the period1 but only during that part
 of it which  followed the introduction 
into ,britain of wild beasts1 and of men
 who  used flint weapons2 for one       

unmistakeable weapon of human           
manufacture1  and innumerable bones of  
the great old cave bear have been found 
within  the rock-like breccia of stone  
and stalagmite and cave-earth1 some feet
  below both the floors of more recent  
formation#ee4 ,the longer the  period1  
therefore1 we allow for the migration   
from the ,east and the  dying out of    
civilized life1 the shorter is the      
period left for the  stalagmitic        
formation4 ,yet probably the whole      
twenty-three centuries  would not       
suffice for the formation of one of the 
floors2 how much less  could a fraction 
of the period suffice to form all three1
 and to supply  the intervals during    
which1 through some change of           
circumstances1 the  cave-earth was      
accumulating1 and consequently no solid 
floor being  formed4    ,at ,matlock the
 drip is continuous1 being supplied by a
 stream1 and not  being1 as in ,kent's  
cavern1 dependent on the chances of the 
rainfall  and the quantity of water that

 may percolate through a limestone roof4
  ,at ,matlock1 for purposes of trade1  
it is an object that a coating of       
stalagmite should be formed as quickly  
as possible4 ,with this view the  water 
is allowed to fall at the rate of fifty 
or sixty drops a minute1  the drip being
 maintained at numerous points          
simultaneously4 ,at ,matlock  we may    
roughly estimate that an inch of        
stalagmite would require four  years for
 its formation1 so that twelve feet and 
a half would require  six hundred years4
 ,in ,kent's cavern1 on the other hand1 
the drip is  often interrupted4 ,there  
is no commercial interest at hand to    
regulate  the speed in the most         
advantageous manner1 so that it falls   
sometimes  too quickly and sometimes too
 slowly4 ,the points at which it falls  
are  few and far between4 ,it cannot    
reasonably be supposed in any year to   
produce even a twentieth of the effect  
we have estimated for the drip  at      
,matlock4 ,in other words1 the two later

 floors of the cavern would  alone      
require a period of twelve thousand     
years for their formation4  ,even at    
this rate the cavern would probably have
 been so extremely damp  and            
uncomfortable that no men or beasts     
would have chosen it for a  shelter in  
rainy weather4    ,but the cavern       
inscriptions make it as certain as can  
be that the rate  of speed here allowed 
for the formation of stalagmite is      
vastly too  high1 and therefore that the
 time allowed for the formation is      
vastly  too low4 ,the famous inscription
 of #afhh was shown to me a few days    
back#ef4 ,it was at that very time wet  
with the drip from the cavern  roof1 a  
drip falling at the rate of thirty-four 
drops a minute4 ,if  the date were      
really cut in the year #afhh 7and there 
is no reason to  suppose that it was    
not71 by our first calculation more than
 two inches  of stalagmite ought to have
 formed over it4 ,instead of which there
 is  but a thin veneer1 a veneer that   

was observed upon it more than forty    
years ago1 and which has not in all     
those forty years increased enough  to  
make such a description of it           
inappropriate4 ,if the date #afae be    
authentic1 over which1 in the opinion of
 the superintendents of the             
exploration1 not one-eighth of an inch  
of stalagmite has been formed  in more  
than two centuries and a-half1 at the   
same rate of progression  twelve feet   
and a-half of stalagmite would demand   
for its formation  three hundred        
thousand years4    ,this cavern by      
itself1 therefore--this one little crack
 in the  outermost rind of the earth's  
surface--proves a comparatively immense 
antiquity for the existence of organic  
life and of human beings upon  the      
globe4 ,but to compare the antiquity of 
the cavern contents with  the antiquity 
of the limestone formation in which they
 are contained  is positively beyond any
 intelligible numerical measurement4    
,yet  the limestone formation itself is 

filled with the relics of living        
creatures1 and in some parts1 if not in 
all1 is one gigantic mass of  such      
remains4    ,in cliffs of sea-shore and 
river1 in railway-cuttings1 in          
mine-shafts  and quarries1 we may often 
see layers of the earth's crust in the  
order of their original deposition4     
,except where the signs are  present of 
some subsequent violent interference1   
this order is  uniform and invariable4  
,it is not that all the members of the  
series  are invariably present1 far from
 it2 but in order of deposition the     
relations of higher and lower are never 
interchanged4 ,every one of  the many   
different layers which have been        
distinguished by geologists  has a      
distinctive group of fossils4 ,you may1 
if you please1 suppose  that for each of
 these layers of the earth's crust there
 was a new  creation of living          
creatures1 wonderfully like at each     
successive  step1 though wonderfully    
different at long intervals1 as though  

they  were the work of an artist whose  
ideas moved but slowly2 but for  such a 
supposition you have no authority2 the  
conception has neither  simplicity nor  
grandeur2 it does not even accord with  
the facts1 since1  amid the general     
change of organic structures1 we find   
the permanence  of a few2 and while the 
groups of two successive layers have1   
each  of them1 numerous distinctive     
forms1 it is impossible to draw any     
definite boundary-line between the      
groups themselves1 which sometimes      
intermingle with an inextricable        
interlacing on their confines4 ,nothing 
comes out more clearly to the student of
 the rocks1 than that the world  of     
to-day is the world of millions of years
 back2 from one point of  view          
ever-changing1 yet ever essentially the 
same2 from another point  of view1 out  
of the utmost regularity of alternation1
 never producing  the same thing1 or    
presenting the same aspect twice4 ,we   
think that  the stage has been          

essentially altered1 because in the days
 of that  immeasurable past we did not  
strut upon it4 ,we are unable to fathom 
the depth of our own insignificance1 and
 are unwilling to believe in a  march of
 time1 compared with which the span of  
our own lives seems so  contemptible4   
,in the depths of the ocean the         
formation of chalk is said  to be going 
on at this very day4 ,probably there is 
no time known to the  geologist at which
 the formation of chalk has not been    
going on in the  depths of the ocean2   
but its older layers have been altered  
by chemical  and mechanical forces1 by  
fire1 by pressure1 and by other means4  
,we know that chalk and limestone do not
 form in the open air4 ,if we  find them
 piled up in enormous hills and         
mountains high above the level  of the  
sea1 and far from its coasts1 we know   
that they did not grow in  that         
position2 that once their proud crests  
and ridges lay low in an  ocean bed4    
,they could not have been formed on a   

sudden1 or rapidly1 or  by any other    
than the slow steps of infinitesimally  
small successive  accumulations3 for we 
find them filled throughout with the    
evidences of  life1 shells and sponges1 
and corals of exquisite beauty and      
delicacy1  generations after generations
 of which must have had time to build up
  their beautiful fabrics4 ,many things 
may be hastened2 you may quicken  the   
growth of many2 but you can't hurry a   
sponge4 ,every foot and inch  of a chalk
 cliff1 of a limestone mountain1 must   
have been formed  originally under water
 with almost incredible slowness4 ,it   
must have  been raised up to meet the   
clouds of heaven since its formation in 
the  ocean-depth4 ,do you think that    
this can have been a rapid process8     
,volcanic cones1 it is true1 are        
sometimes piled up by a sudden effort4  
,but with widespread platforms of solid 
rock the upheaving forces deal  more    
respectfully4 ,an average elevation of a
 foot or two in a century1  is perhaps a

 high exceptional speed for such        
movements4 ,but this rate  requires a   
thousand centuries for a hill only one  
or two thousand feet  high1 to rise1 not
 from the depths1 but from the surface  
of the water4  ,if we had only a single 
formation to deal with instead of scores
 of  them2 if we had a thickness of only
 one thousand feet of the earth's  crust
 to consider1 instead of scores of      
thousands1 the proved antiquity  of the 
globe would be enormous4 ,what is to be 
said1 then1 when we stand  face to face 
with what geologists have been pleased  
to call the new  red sandstone8 ,this   
formation cannot be less than millions  
of years  old1 although in relation to  
the ,devonian limestone it is           
indisputably  new4 ,those deep red      
rocks1 that with their fantastic        
profiles in so  many places fringe the  
southern border of ,devon1 must have    
been formed  since the limestone2 for   
the simple reason1 that in every part   
they are  full of pebbles or fragments  

of the limestone containing             
characteristic  fossils of the earlier  
formations4 ,it will at least be granted
 that you  cannot break off a piece from
 a rock before the rock itself exists4  
,prior1 then1 to the very beginning of  
the formation of these red              
conglomerates1 the limestone rock must  
have been formed2 it must have  been    
heaved up above the level of the sea2   
fragments must have been  broken off    
from it1 rolled into pebbles1 triturated
 into sand4 ,as the  breaking1 and the  
rolling1 and the grinding went on1 so   
with equal  steps would the growth of   
the conglomerate proceed4 ,but the      
workshop  and the work must still have  
been beneath the waters of the ocean1   
and  not till the whole work of         
formation was finished could the further
  process be begun of raising the work  
above the level of the waves4    ,it is 
not uncommon to find fossils in the     
pebbles of a conglomerate  rock showing 
lines of a dislocating fracture filled  

with spar4 ,the  fossil shell or coral  
once had an inhabitant4 ,we must allow  
time  for its life and death4 ,its      
vacant tabernacle must then have become 
filled with extraneous matter4 ,this    
must have required time to harden  into 
rock4 ,while that rock was still in the 
mass1 some cause must  have operated to 
fracture it1 and such causes are not of 
every-day  operation4 ,after this1 more 
time was needed to fill up the          
divisional  line with spar2 more time to
 break off the fragment containing the  
shell from the general mass of the rock2
 more time to roll it into a  pebble2   
more time to imbed it hard and fast in a
 conglomerate rock2  more time to raise 
the rock high out of the waters2 and1   
lastly1 one  more vast addition of time 
for the crumbling away of the           
conglomerate  formation1 so as to expose
 the tall sea-cliff from which human    
hands  might gather this memorial relic 
of untold ages4    ,the same tale is    
told by the coal-measures4 ,dr4 ,dawson1

 of ,montreal1  has drawn out the       
argument from the carboniferous         
formation#eg with  extraordinary force  
and a convincing plainness that leaves  
nothing to  be desired1 for the benefit 
of any one who will read his great work 
on  ,acadian geology4 ,the formation of 
coal depends on sub-arial growths1      
affected by sub-aqueous action4 ,the    
trees and plants1 out of which  coal is 
formed1 for the most part could not     
possibly have grown under  water4 ,the  
mud1 the sand1 the stone which cover    
seams of coal1 could  not have been laid
 over them without the agency of water  
to bring them  down1 and spread them out
 in regular layers of stratification4   
,when the  hollow bark of a tall tree is
 found erect upon its roots1 with those 
roots still permeating the clay from    
which they once drew nourishment1  it is
 evident that time must be allowed for  
the growth of the tree1  for the almost 
complete decay which left nothing of it 
but its bark  and roots1 and for the    

slow accumulation of sediment which has 
encased  without overthrowing it4 ,a    
complete alteration must have taken     
place  in the conditions of the ground  
in the interval between the time when   
the tree began to grow1 and the time    
when a length of seven or eight  feet of
 its upright stem was buried in mud4    
,layers1 indeed1 of sand and  mud may be
 spread out over small areas by storms  
and inundations with  comparative speed2
 but if above the sands we come to      
thicknesses of  limestone composed      
almost entirely of animal remains1 such 
as those  of shells and fish1 not only  
are we forced to admit a long period for
  the successive generations of those   
creatures1 but we are forced to  observe
 the products of the ocean lying        
actually above the products of  the dry 
land1 as though1 according to the old   
poetical extravagance1  the stag and doe
 had taken to the waters and the fishes 
been building  in the tree-tops4 ,the   
conclusion is inevitable1 that what was 

once dry  land1 fruitful in vegetation1 
in process of time became a swamp1 and  
from the swamp became a sea4 ,it will be
 a fresh surprise1 but a fresh  evidence
 of time's duration1 if above the       
limestone we find more clay  with more  
plants buried in more mud1 and          
over-topped by more limestone4  ,bearing
 in mind the old supposition1 that order
 and beauty and life  upon the globe are
 only six thousand years' old1          
astonishment should  reach its climax   
when we find1 as we do1 that within the 
thickness of  only a few feet of the    
earth's crust1 the record that we have  
been  describing is repeated again and  
again and again2 but beyond the  climax1
 a fresh and overpowering marvel awaits 
us1 when1 as at one spot  in ,british   
,america1 the record expands itself from
 a few feet into  sixteen thousand1     
showing conclusively by eighty          
successive bands of  coal that fourscore
 times at least1 and perhaps many more1 
while that  thickness of the earth's    

crust was forming1 the waters gave place
 to  dry land1 and in turn the dry land 
to the waters1--showing conclusively    
that during all the period of these     
changes tall forests of graceful  trees 
abounded on the globe1 along with       
exquisite ferns and curious  reptiles1  
and beetles and winged insects of great 
size and beauty2  while fish replenished
 the waters1 along with an infinity of  
shells and  corals1 and other           
inhabitants of the deep4 ,yet these     
sixteen thousand  feet1 these eighty    
successive forests1 these hundred and   
sixty changes1  comprise but a small    
fraction of the whole known succession  
of strata4    ,it is true that different
 strata not only may1 but must have been
  forming at one and the same time in   
different parts of the world4  ,but when
 one stratum has been formed out of the 
wreck of another1 it  is self-evident   
that they cannot have been formed       
together4 ,the same  thing is obvious in
 regard to any number of layers found   

lying in  undisturbed succession one    
above the other4 ,they must have been   
formed  successively1 the lowest first1 
the highest last4 ,but one point about  
them is far from obvious1 namely1 the   
length of the interval that may  have   
intervened between the end of one       
formation and the beginning of  another4
 ,the great ,african desert has been the
 great ,african desert as  far back as  
human histories extend2 yet in times    
geologically recent  it lay beneath the 
waters of the ocean4 ,should it be again
 submerged  before any fertilizing      
agencies have covered it with signs of  
its  sub-arial exposure1 another layer  
of sand may be thrown down upon it1     
containing new marine fossils1 and no   
memorial be left to the future          
geologist of the vast era during which  
its kindly influence was warming  the   
winds of ,europe1 and saving us from a  
glacial climate4 ,the ground  you stand 
on is passing through such an interval4 
,it was under the sea  once2 doubtless  

it will be under the sea again in the   
future4 ,look  into that future2 look   
into that past4 ,can you measure either 
of those  intervals in the years of     
common chronology8 ,yet all over the    
world the  succession of geological     
strata proclaims the recurrence over and
 over  again of such intervals2 silent1 
indeed1 as to positive evidence1 but    
widening the possible limits of time's  
duration to the furthest stretch  of    
fancy4    ,all our great continents have
 been ever so many times1 either in the 
mass or piecemeal1 under the waves of   
the ocean4 ,nothing hinders that  the   
bed of every great ocean should have    
been ever so many times turned  into dry
 land4 ,this interchange is going on now
 in numberless regions  of sea and land4
 ,all the facts as we find them are such
 as they might  be expected to be had   
this interchange been going on1 as no   
doubt it  has been1 through an          
indefinite past4 ,we are bound to allow 
millions  of years for the formation of 

the strata that have been already       
examined4 ,there may be depths below the
 lowest depths yet explored by          
geologists2 there have certainly been   
immense intervals which have left  no   
materials for the geologist to explore2 
and when all the profoundest  deep of   
stratification shall have been explored1
 we may still find that  the record of  
all these unnumbered millions of years  
is but1 as it  were1 the latest page of 
the volume--a page that may have been   
preceded  by a thousand others now      
almost irrevocably lost or become       
utterly  illegible4 ,there is nothing to
 hinder the supposition that those      
earlier pages1 if they existed1 were1   
amidst innumerable differences1  still  
in their general aspect very like the   
latest1 as long or longer1  as full of  
the memorials of eventful circumstance1 
of constant change  dominated by and    
springing from the operation of         
unchanging laws4 ,as  the time is       
absolutely incalculable which the theory

 of evolution  requires to account for  
the highest forms of life upon the      
earth1 so  the time which all these     
considerations leave open for the work  
is  absolutely beyond calculation4 ,the 
theory cannot ask for more than the     
facts make it possible to offer4    ,we 
hear men sometimes dwell on an          
expression which they fancy to be       
,scriptural1 #8that there should be time
 no longer#eh2' as if time by  any      
possibility could ever come to an end6  
,it is a pity that they  should         
completely misinterpret the passage on  
which their opinion  fancies itself to  
be grounded4 ,it is a still greater pity
 that they  should use the language of  
rational human beings1 without being at 
the  pains to determine whether their   
words have any intelligible meaning3    
for certainly to the human mind any     
beginning or end of time is wholly      
inconceivable4 ,language itself will not
 bear with the conception1  unless it be
 consistent to speak of a time when time

 was not1 of a  time when time will be  
no more4    ,there is a poem1 and a     
sweet one1 by the present               
,poet-,laureate1  in which the murmuring
 brook is made to speak the language of 
the  moralist1 and to proclaim the      
transitory nature of all human affairs1 
by a comparison between the short       
duration of man's life and its own      
unceasing current--        #8,for men   
may come1 and men may go1        ,but ,i
 flow on for ever4'    ,such is the     
proud language of the murmuring brook4  
,yet the boast is  an untrue one2 for if
 any conclusion in regard to the future 
can be  warranted from the facts of the 
past1 none can be more sure than  that  
no particular brook will flow on for    
ever4 ,instead of a brook1  it may      
become a mighty river like the ,st4     
,lawrence2 it may dash over  precipitous
 cliffs with a vaster fall and volume   
than ,niagara2 and1  after all1 the slow
 inexorable changes of the earth's crust
 will one  day make its flow impossible1

 and the channel of it shall know its   
stream no more4 ,only the flow of time  
is unending1 of time which does         
nothing1 but out of or without which    
nothing can be done1--of time1  replete 
with glorious wonders as far back as the
 knowledge or the  imagination of man   
can penetrate1 through every age1       
through every  million of years that can
 be rescued from forgetfulness1 bearing 
fresh  testimony1 in the greatness and  
the endlessness of the work1 to the     
eternal power and wisdom of the ,supreme
 ,worker4          ,,note ,,on ,,the    
,,hypothesis ,,of ,,spontaneous         
,,generation4      ,presuming that there
 is not a particle of evidence as yet   
established  in favour of the           
supposition known as the doctrine of    
abiogenesis1  it does not follow that no
 such evidence ever will1 or ever can1  
be  forthcoming4 ,the advancement of    
science is continually doing away with  
harsh1 abrupt outlines1 and revealing   
the softest shades of transition  in the

 varied scenery of nature4 ,between     
organic and inorganic matter1  between  
the inert and the living mass1 the line 
of separation has  been hitherto1 to our
 minds1 the hardest and sharpest of all4
 ,we have  indeed become so accustomed  
to this violation of the cosmos1 this   
harsh  interruption to the continuous   
order of nature1 and to the simplicity  
of its general plan1 that we are apt to 
be rather annoyed than pleased  with the
 first efforts made to prove them only  
imaginary4 ,there is a  dignity about   
life which requires1 it is thought1 to  
be defended from  too close a proximity 
in character to the chemical solids and 
liquids  amongst which it makes its     
appearance1 even though the life whose  
dignity is thus maintained exhibit      
little more than the functions of a     
stomach1 or be presented in the somewhat
 dull animation of a chrysalis  and the 
torpor of a slug4    ,a ,wellingtonia   
gigantea1 with its stupendous height and
 graceful  form1 with its bark and wood1

 and sap and pith1 and cones and        
innumerable spikelets1 seems wonderfully
 noble and vastly superior in  the scale
 of creation to a spoonful of salt2 yet 
every one of the tiny  grains has1 so   
far as we know1 full as much sense and  
as much power  of enjoyment as the      
stately tree4 ,the mineral and the      
vegetable are1  in fact1 alike destitute
 of any qualities on which a comparison 
of  dignity can properly be founded4    
,the organic depends ultimately upon    
the inorganic for its nutriment4 ,it is 
itself ultimately reduced to  the       
inorganic4 ,it does not1 therefore1 seem
 incredible that living  organisms1     
simpler perhaps than any yet detected by
 the microscope1  should be or should   
have been produced without generation   
proper by the  mere combining of        
inorganic materials4    ,this is the    
hypothesis of ,spontaneous ,generation1 
so called1 or  abiogenesis1 unproved and
 extremely difficult of proof1 but      
precisely  filling that gap in the order

 and continuity of nature which is so   
puzzling without it4    ,practically it 
makes no difference to the theory of    
development  whether the simple         
organisms from which that theory        
supposes the more  complicated to be    
derived1 originated at a single era or  
at several4  ,the theory does not deny  
the perpetuation throughout vast ages of
  extremely simple organisms4 ,to the   
general cohesion of the theory1         
therefore1 it is unimportant whether we 
affiliate each of these  living motes to
 a parent like itself1 or to a          
combination of chemical  substances     
previously without life4    ,considering
 the vast results attributed to the     
principle of  variability1 it has been  
thought strange that any organisms      
should through great cycles of time have
 escaped its operation1 and  transmitted
 their original simplicity to an endless
 succession of  descendants4    ,on the 
hypothesis of spontaneous generation    
working continuously this  difficulty   

would disappear2 simple organisms would 
be continually  losing their simplicity 
by variation1 but new organisms of equal
  simplicity would continually appear in
 the world1 spontaneously  generated4   
,it might still be true that all but the
 least conspicuous members of  the      
world's population belong to a single   
family1 or to an extremely  small number
 of separate lines of descent4 ,if we   
suppose that1 as soon  as the globe was 
fitted for living occupants1 a single   
simple organism  was spontaneously      
generated1 or1 if you please1 created1  
or1 in any  other way that may be named1
 introduced upon the earth1 the results 
in  accordance with actual facts may be 
logically deduced agreeably to the      
various principles of the theory of     
development4 ,its descendants would     
multiply and replenish the earth1       
unchecked1 in all parts suited to  their
 conditions of existence1 till all such 
parts were occupied4 ,no  further       
advance in the population of the world  

could then take place  until some       
variation had occurred1 making possible 
the occupation of  new regions1 or of   
the old regions1 under new conditions4  
,but the new  species1 constituted by   
some advantageous variation1 would be   
likely  to overrun the whole field1 to  
the almost complete suppression of the  
earlier and more simple form4 ,the      
distance thus gained in the race of     
progressive organization it would be    
likely not only to maintain1 but        
greatly to increase4 ,its descendants   
would vary in more than one useful      
direction1 till it might1 as we have    
said1 become the parent of all  the     
conspicuous members of the earth's      
population4 ,the earliest and  simplest 
form might still have representatives   
inheriting its likeness  by direct      
descent1 but unable to make their way in
 the world1 not from  wanting the power 
to vary1 but from finding the world     
pre-occupied by  species too powerful   
for them to compete with4 ,in this way  

they would  be restrained to their      
original insignificance4    ,now exactly
 the same result would follow1 if1      
instead of being born in  what we       
consider the ordinary course of         
parentage1 these simple forms  were ever
 being spontaneously generated4 ,they   
would find the world  pre-occupied      
against their advancement in the scale  
of organization2  they would rarely1 if 
ever1 be allowed to lead up by          
successive useful  variations to highly 
organized forms2 and if ever1 only in   
periods of  time so enormous as to      
perplex the acutest human understanding4
    ,what is commonly supposed to be the
 ,biblical theory of ,creation1 is  in  
truth a theory of spontaneous           
generation1 only multiplying a          
million-fold the difficulty1 if it be a 
difficulty1 involved in that            
hypothesis4 ,unless we suppose the globe
 to have always existed1 and  always to 
have been tenanted by creatures endowed 
with life1 we are  forced to believe in 

the occurrence at some time or other of 
what1  in the language of science1 must 
have been spontaneous generation4  ,as  
there is no historical reason for       
confining such an occurrence to  any    
particular era2 as science can give no  
reason why1 if it happened  once1 it    
should not happen an indefinite number  
of times2 as all  analogy is in favour  
of uniform laws of nature rather than   
exceptional  surprises2 and1 lastly1 as 
numerous phenomena that have to do with 
the reproduction and maintenance of life
 are all continuous1 and  not           
interjectional--it seems at least an    
open question whether the  origin of    
life itself may not also be sometimes1  
or even continually  repeated4 ,for1    
imagine what conditions we will to have 
prevailed when  the elementary          
substances coalesced1 out of which were 
compounded the  first living being1 it  
is difficult to imagine that the same   
conditions  should never have recurred  
to produce a similar result1 since the  

conditions are so far limited1 that they
 must have been consistent1 not  only   
with the birth1 but with the life after 
its birth1 of that most  antique        
animalcule4 ,so many wonderful and      
hitherto unsuspected effects  in the    
working of ,nature have of late years   
been unveiled1 so much of  marvellous   
analysis successfully carried out1 that 
it would surely be  superstitious to    
despair of finding fresh links in the   
chain that binds  together the lifeless 
and the living4 ,experiments in this    
direction  may hitherto have failed from
 want of skill or care1 or proper means 
at the command of those who conducted   
them4 ,yet it is not too much to  ask of
 men renowned in science1 that in       
pointing out the errors1 they  should   
abstain from discouraging the efforts4  
,let it not be thought irreligious to   
anticipate the possible  establishment  
of the supposition now under discussion4
 ,it cannot be  irreverent to think that
 the bestowal of life upon a particle of

 matter  too minute for human eye to    
see1 requires no more special apparatus 
than that allotted to the exquisite     
crystals of the frost4 #8,out of  whose 
womb came the ice8 and the hoary frost  
of heaven1 who hath  gendered it8' ,yet 
in the workmanship of these a ,divine   
hand is to the  full as visible as in a 
diatom or a puff-ball4 ,that the        
life-giving  energy should have been    
exhausted in a single effort1 is        
contrary  beyond doubt to the analogy of
 religion1 whatever may be thought of   
the  analogy of nature4    ,on the other
 hand1 let it not be thought            
unscientific to advocate the  claims of 
an unproved hypothesis4 ,it is the      
nature of hypotheses to  be unproved4   
,as they gather proof1 the hypothetical 
becomes a theory4  ,at length the theory
 goes on to demonstration4 ,the use of  
hypotheses  has often been explained4   
,the human mind is easily exhausted by  
the  observation of numerous incoherent 
facts4 ,it is impelled to arrange  and  

classify1 to find some thread or threads
 of association on which  the facts may 
be strung1 some principle on which they 
may be parcelled  out into groups4 ,the 
arrangement may be erroneous1 the       
explanatory  principle untrue2 they may 
be so plausible1 so apparently          
satisfactory1  so fascinating withal in 
general aspect1 as for a long time to   
hinder  the real solution of great      
problems2 and nevertheless it may be    
judged  that their services in the      
advancement of knowledge far outweigh   
the  hindrances caused by the too       
servile acceptance accorded them4 ,the  
foibles of a great writer may long      
infect the literature which his         
greatness has ennobled4 ,a constitution 
grandly conceived in proportion  to the 
moral and social ideas prevailing at the
 time of its conception  may be clung to
 with servility long after it has been  
outstripped  by the progress of         
civilization4 ,but neither the genius of
 the poet  nor the skill of the lawgiver

 could be spared in its own day and     
generation2 neither could have been     
sacrificed to prevent the follies  of   
the plagiarist1 or the dulness of eyes  
that in after ages might read  the      
letter without discerning the spirit4   
,we may almost say that a bad hypothesis
 is better than none2 but a  wrong      
hypothesis need not be a bad one4 ,it   
may tend so to group around  it the     
facts contributed by supporters and     
opponents1 that when the  real          
explanation of them all comes to be     
suggested1 the fraternization  of the   
confronting armies may be easy1 and the 
truth be greeted and  acknowledged with 
general acclaim4          ,,the         
,,imperfection ,,of ,,the ,,geological  
,,record4      ,the general who is for  
ever counter-marching and skilfully     
executing  retrograde movements cannot  
always sustain the enthusiasm of his    
own troops1 much less excite in his     
favour that of the civilian  multitude4 
,to many minds1 the reliance placed on  

the imperfection of  the geological     
record appears to be a rather damaging  
retreat in the  strategy of science4    
,they were just beginning to believe in 
geology as  a wonderful revelation of   
the past history of the globe1 when     
suddenly  they are told that the        
fragments of that history which have    
been saved  are merely tattered pages   
out of different chapters1 giving no    
adequate  notion of the enormous bulk   
and varied contents of the whole volume4
  ,since1 without the geological        
evidence of time's duration and of the  
countless changes in organic structures 
which that duration embraces1  the      
theory of development could never have  
been imagined1 it seems  half ungrateful
 and inconsistent in the author of the  
theory to turn  round upon geological   
evidence and tax it with its extreme    
poverty  and even delusive misleading   
appearances4 ,but1 in fact1 ,mr4 ,darwin
 in  no way detracts from the value of  
geological evidence4 ,the researches    

necessary to extend it are invested1 to 
those who accept his theory1  with      
tenfold interest4 ,the deficiencies and 
interruptions in it which  he has       
pointed out as necessarily occurring    
must sooner or later have  become       
apparent4 ,they were dangerous to       
science only as long as they  were      
unobserved1 or not sufficiently taken   
into account4    ,that the record is    
really imperfect is not a matter which  
admits of  controversy4 ,no one supposes
 that every species and variety that    
ever existed in past ages on the globe  
is represented at this very  day by     
fossil specimens in prime enough        
condition to exhibit all the            
characteristics of the creature as it   
once lived4 ,no one supposes  that1 if  
such specimens existed1 all of them ever
 could or would be  found by human      
beings4 ,it is not in the nature of a   
fossil to present  all the              
characteristics of the creature as it   
once lived4 ,it cannot  possibly do it2 

for the fossil is without life and      
motion4 ,there is no  respiration1 no   
circulation of the blood going on4 ,as a
 rule1 only the  hard parts of the      
creature1 such as shell1 scales1 or bony
 skeleton1  can be preserved4 ,in most  
cases all these relics have been        
chemically  altered4 ,nevertheless1 in  
fossils from the very lowest strata1    
from  the very earliest formations that 
yield any1 we find certain analogies  to
 creatures now living4 ,we reason from  
these analogies without any  hesitation 
to the characteristics which the fossil 
creature will  probably have presented  
in its living state4 ,our reasonings may
  often be erroneous1 but the mere fact 
of our accepting the apparent  analogies
 as a ground for reasoning at all1      
implies a belief in the  uniformity of  
the conditions of animal existence      
between our own times  and the most     
distant ages of the past4 ,we argue as  
if generation had  succeeded generation 
without interruption1 not as if there   

had been  new independent creations from
 time to time1 since these would imply  
new conditions replacing the old1 and   
make the argument from analogy  between 
the items of the different creations of 
no value4 ,for these  independent       
creations1 whether capricious or not in 
themselves1 could  only exhibit to our  
minds the symptoms of caprice4 ,the mere
 fact of  their being independent one of
 another would be so wanting in         
congruity  with all the rest of our     
experience1 that we should reasonably   
expect  their minor details as well as  
the general plan to be wholly fantastic4
  ,in other words1 the fossil memorials 
of life in past ages1 imperfect  as we  
confess and maintain them to be1 still  
present so many general  resemblances to
 one another and to living structures of
 the present  day1 that if they do not  
prove the continuity of life upon the   
globe1  they cannot be held to prove    
anything at all2 they should be regarded
  as a very elaborate practical joke    

played upon the human reason4           
,palontology is defined as #8the science
 which treats of fossil remains  both   
animal and vegetable4' ,this principle  
of the continuity of life  from age to  
age may be considered as one of its     
definite acquisitions4  ,there is no    
single point of geological time at which
 it can be said1  #8at this epoch       
clearly all old species had passed away1
 all kinds  of life had become new4'    
,not only is there no indication of such
 a  break1 but there is the strongest   
evidence against any such having  ever  
occurred4 ,in spite1 however1 of the    
completeness of the evidence  required  
for proving this single conclusion1 the 
general incompleteness  and enormous    
deficiencies in some parts of the       
palontological record  can be           
established beyond dispute4 ,we are in  
the position of a man  who has kept the 
title-deeds to a large estate1 while    
almost all the  estate itself has been  
buried under the encroachments of the   

sea4 ,here  and there some old landmarks
 may be discernible far out in the      
waters1  showing the extent of what had 
once been meadow and woodland1 farm and 
garden1 but unable to show how these    
were distributed1 or to exhibit  any of 
their details4    ,mr4 ,parfitt1 in his 
paper on #8,fossil ,sponge ,spicules1'  
told the  ,devonshire ,association last 
year 7#ahgj7 that we have evidence more 
or  less exact of sponges in a fossil   
state as far back in time as the        
,silurian system1 mentioning specimens  
of ,acanthospongia ,siluriensis1        
,cliona antiqua1 and ,cliona prisca1 and
 stating in regard to the two  latter   
that the genus is still in our own seas4
 ,he then referred to  large masses of a
 fossil in the ,devonian rocks of       
,cornwall1 believed  by some to be      
sponges1 and by others to be the remains
 of fish4 ,that  these are in reality   
fish-remains has1 in fact1 been shown   
pretty  conclusively#ei4 ,from this     
point1 however1 up to the ,great        

,oolite1  ,mr4 ,parfitt tells us that   
scarcely a vestige of the sponges is to 
be  found1 although since that time they
 have been very abundant4 ,between  the 
,silurian and the ,great ,oolite the    
interval of time must have  been        
enormous4 ,it is occupied by a vast     
series of sedimentary rocks1  embracing 
very varied mineral characteristics4    
,from this series our  museums have     
been1 and are still being1 supplied with
 vast heaps of  fossil organic          
structures1 including among numerous    
others1 plants and  corals and fish and 
reptiles4 ,through all that protracted  
period there  is no reason to suppose1  
in regard to the outer rind of the      
globe1 that  the general conditions of  
earth1 air1 and water were other than   
they  are now4 ,all ,england may have   
been under water2 delicate creatures may
  have wintered at the ,north ,pole for 
the sake of its genial climate2  and an 
infinity of other local and temporary   
differences may have  prevailed1 without

 making the habitable globe of those    
days essentially  different from our    
own4 ,the laws of chemistry and         
mechanics1 the laws  of heat and motion1
 must have been just the same as they   
are now4  ,then1 as now1 there must have
 been oceans and continents1 winds and  
currents1 forests growing1 decaying1 and
 being buried1 sand and chalk  being    
deposited in layers1 molten minerals    
thrown up by volcanoes1  ice forming at 
a definite temperature1 glaciers scoring
 the rocks1  icebergs transporting      
boulders1 rains and rivers slowly       
washing down  the hills1 and waves      
corroding the cliffs on the sea-shore4  
,we have  evidence also that life in    
many forms abounded4 ,those forms1      
though  seldom transmitted to creatures 
of the present day with anything        
approaching an exact likeness1 can yet  
be classified under the same  general   
names with the most modern forms of     
life4 ,now sponges are forms  of an     
extremely simple organization4 ,the     

silicious spicules are well  adapted for
 the wear and tear of a fossil          
existence4 ,in the greensand  and the   
chalk they are actually found in        
extraordinary abundance4 ,it  would be  
inconvenient upon any theory to have to 
suppose these very  simple structures   
introduced into the world for the first 
time quite  late in the series of living
 organisms1 and after beings much more  
complicated and higher in the scale of  
existence1 unless1 indeed1 we  suppose  
that about the time of the ,great       
,oolite the evolution of man  was first 
thought of1 and the sponge accordingly  
prepared for him to  wash his face with4
 ,but even if the bath and the basin be 
admitted  as the final causes of        
sponge-existence1 the conception of it  
must  be carried back1 as we have seen1 
to the ,silurian period2 while1         
according to ,mr4 ,parfitt1 the immense 
interval of ,lias and ,trias1  ,permian1
 ,carboniferous1 and ,devonian remains  
black and spongeless1  as though it were

 the appropriate era of the great       
unwashed4 ,but if  the ,darwinian theory
 be a true one1 sponge-life having begun
 in the  ,silurian period1 and being in 
existence now1 must have been continuous
  through the whole interval2 every     
single deposit in the entire series     
since the ,silurian must have been      
contemporary with some of the  sponges2 
and1 as a matter of fact1 ,mr4          
,parfitt's statement1 however  true of  
the condition of our knowledge a few    
years back1 must now be  qualified by   
the addition of several species spread  
over the interval  in ,britain alone1   
even if we exclude some indefinite      
structures1 of  which no opinion can be 
at present pronounced with safety4 ,mr4 
,parfitt  himself1 in a paper read at   
,honiton in #ahfh1 remarks that #8the   
,devonian  formation has furnished a    
great number of specimens of what appear
 to  be species of sponges4' ,from      
,permian and ,triassic beds on the      
continent  of ,europe1 a very large     

number of forms are said to be more or  
less  distinctly made out4 ,mr4 ,salter1
 in #ahfd1 reported the discovery of    
,protospongia ,fenestrata in the        
,lingula flags of ,st4 ,david's1 thus   
carrying back this form of life beyond  
the ,silurian to the ,cambrian  era4 ,it
 is an interesting illustration of the  
great ambiguity of these  ancient       
fossils1 that two such authorities as   
,mr4 ,salter and ,dr4  ,bowerbank       
differed about the ,protospongia1 the   
one supposing it to  exhibit the        
spicules1 the other the fibre of the    
sponge4 ,the simple  facts that species 
have to be moved backwards and forwards 
between the  amorphozoic and zoophytic  
groups1 that relics may pass for fish in
 one  year and sponges in another1 and  
by-and-by be recognised again as fish1  
show the often imperfect condition of   
the record1 even where it is not  a     
complete blank4    ,where direct        
evidence of any kind is still           
unavailable1 it may  possibly be said   

that no sponges are found for such and  
such a period1  because none existed in 
it4 ,the plausibility of such an opinion
 can  only be tested in fresh           
illustrations of the general argument4  
,the  coalfield of ,nova ,scotia has    
been described by ,professor ,dawson  of
 ,montreal4 ,as it afforded a fine field
 for the exertions of the  geologist1 so
 it repaid him by its great richness in 
the fossil remains  of plants4 ,but in  
the coal formations of ,england and of  
,westphalia  insects also had been found
 of different genera in addition to     
plants1  while ,nova ,scotia1 with all  
its vegetable wealth1 yielded the       
anxious  explorer but a single specimen 
of the still more interesting relics4   
,that specimen consisted of the head and
 some other fragments of a large        
insect1 probably neuropterous4 ,that    
single specimen ,professor ,dawson      
tells us he found in a coprolite1 in the
 fossil excrement of a reptile  enclosed
 in the trunk of an erect sigillaria4   

,could any one invent a  more curious   
cabinet to preserve so fragile a        
specimen for millions  of years8 ,can it
 in this case be argued1 that of insect 
remains  nothing was found in the       
carboniferous of ,nova ,scotia but the  
head  and some other appurtenances of a 
single neuropterous insect1 because     
that head and those appurtenances were  
all that had ever flourished  there8 ,it
 cannot so be argued1 not only because  
the analogies of the  carboniferous     
formation in other parts of the world   
are conclusive  against such argument1  
but also because within the last three  
or four  years1 after long and diligent 
search1 two more species have been added
  to the collection of carboniferous    
insects from ,nova ,scotia itself4  ,two
 delicate wings1 one very large and one 
small1 have been found1 each  sealed1 as
 it were1 with a fern-leaf2 each a frail
 but enduring record  of life that must 
once have been brilliant and            
abundant#fj4    ,when the zeal of a     

collector adds a new species to those   
already  known1 by finding the fragment 
of a butterfly's wing that had been for 
millions of years in a seam of coal1 how
 many considerations are forced  upon   
the mind6 ,our sensitive nerves are     
comparatively seldom troubled  by the   
perceived presence of dead creatures4   
,with the exception of our  own food1   
such sights are pretty well confined to 
the carcase of a dog  floating on a     
pool1 the feathers of a torn bird1 a    
parched mole1 and a  sprinkling of      
blue-bottles in an unused room4 ,yet    
countless millions  of creatures are    
annually dying1 ready and willing to    
become fossils4  ,fossils1 however1 they
 do not become1 simply because other    
creatures  eat them up4 ,for this reason
 alone1 not one in ten thousand of any  
particular terrestrial species is likely
 to become fossil1 because  to some     
creature or another it is almost sure to
 be good eating1 and  therefore in the  
living state or the dead1 sure to be    

ravenously seized  upon and devoured4   
,some forms of marine life are indeed   
represented by a wonderful number  of   
specimens or fragments of specimens4    
,silicious and calcareous exuvi  of     
minute creatures deposited in the still 
depths of the ocean may be  preserved by
 myriads1 but neither these #8in number 
numberless' nor the  giant-bones of     
ancient ,saurians convey any adequate   
notion of the whole  population of the  
globe at any one era4 ,the              
palontologist1 guiding  himself only by 
prominent details of this description1  
would be like  a child over a child's   
history of ,england1 to whom the fabric 
of the  ,constitution and the           
,reformation of the ,church seem matters
 obscure1  and scarcely worthy of       
notice1 while ,alfred burning the cakes1
 and  ,henry ,,viii in his well-known   
character of ,bluebeard1 stand out in   
bold  relief4    ,no one will doubt1    
that within the last ten years tens of  
thousands  of the common white butterfly

 have disported themselves in ,england1 
yet a man might easily starve if he were
 allowed no food till he had  found some
 of their fossil remains4 ,the dodo has 
not long been extinct1  but nevertheless
 fossil dodos are extremely rare4 ,it   
may be thought  that the date of        
extinction has little to do with the    
matter1 and that  each relic when       
enshrined in the rock1 may claim to be  
by a sort of  indelible character #8once
 a fossil and always a fossil4' ,this1  
however1  is in reality far from its    
true condition4 ,let a creature's       
remains  escape being devoured1 or      
burnt1 or trampled to pieces1 or being  
dissolved by the rain1 or crumbled into 
dust by rolling waves and mud  and      
stones gathered upon them1 their perils 
are not yet over4 ,even in  the grasp of
 the hard rock1 the fossil may be       
horribly distorted by  pressure1 split  
asunder by cleavage1 boiled and baked   
and crystallized1  till none of its     
features remain what they were1 or till 

the very fact  of its presence becomes  
only the question of a dim surmise4 ,the
 rude  jolt of an earthquake1 that      
splits asunder a mountain1 may sometimes
 be  tender over a butterfly's wing2 but
 there are chemical agencies which  work
 without any compassion for what is fine
 and delicate1 and by these  we find    
great thicknesses of rock apparently    
stripped of their fossils4  ,where the  
whole stratum consists of remains of    
once living organisms1  as in seams of  
coal1 it has been shown that we have no 
reason to  suppose that any complete or 
adequate memorials are left us of the   
whole vegetation of any particular      
period or any particular area2 since    
,dr4 ,lindley has found1 by actual      
experiment1 that different vegetables   
have very different powers of resisting 
decay1 and that pines and  ferns and    
lycopodia will be well preserved after  
long immersion in  water1 while the same
 treatment causes the disappearance of  
grasses and  sedges1 of the oak-tree and

 the ash#fa4    ,even those rocks which 
preserve fossils most carefully may     
themselves  be crumbled to pieces1      
fossils and all1 by the process of      
denudation4    ,denudation is the laying
 bare of one stratum1 or portion of a   
stratum1  by the removal of another4 ,it
 is carried on principally by rains and 
rivers and the action of the sea-waves  
upon the sea-border4 ,to the            
last-mentioned agency the geologist is  
highly indebted2 to the others  also he 
owes a debt3 but consider how they all  
do their work4 ,much  of the material   
dealt with they pound into mud or sand1 
and in these  any fragments that escape 
the trituration are1 sooner or later1   
again  buried4 ,they may tear open the  
rocks1 and expose for a brief period the
  most interesting and unique fossils2  
but1 unfortunately1 they carry  on their
 work by night as well as day1 on       
desolate coasts1 in places  where the   
,palontographical ,society has no       
missionaries1 or when the  missionary1  

if there be one1 is in-doors writing a  
book2 so that a very  small percentage  
of all that might be discovered is ever 
actually found4    ,in the artificial   
denudation of mining and quarrying1     
though the  rude forces of ,nature are  
dispensed with1 the enlightened hammer  
of  the geologist can do very little by 
itself4 ,in most cases it can but       
follow where commercial enterprise leads
 the way1 and be grateful for           
permission to rummage among the dbris1  
when pickaxe and blasting  have done    
their work4    ,the chances against a   
fossil's being found to any useful      
purpose in  quarrying are very numerous4
 ,the rock must chance to split so as to
  disclose it2 the workman must chance  
to notice it2 he must chance to  have   
knowledge enough to think it worth      
notice2 have time enough to  stop from  
his work and take it2 have sense enough 
to keep it safe2 have  memory enough to 
recollect where he hides it2 and1       
lastly1 have the  luck to meet with a   

customer who knows its scientific value4
    ,numbers of rare specimens must     
continually be consigned to the furnace 
and the limekiln1 or buried under mounds
 and hills of refuse4 ,sometimes  the   
character of the matrix1 by its hardness
 or its softness1 makes  it impossible  
to disengage the fossil without complete
 disfigurement2  sometimes the fossil   
itself is so fragmentary as rather to   
confuse than  to teach4 ,dr4 ,hooker    
gives an instance1 in which a geologist 
assigned  three pieces of fossil-leaf to
 plants of three different genera1 which
  a subsequent observer maintained to be
 merely the separated portions of  a    
single leaf of one and the same         
plant#fb4    ,in the slates and         
limestones of ,torquay1 full as they are
 of marine  fossils1 no fish-remains    
have been identified1 with one          
exception4 ,yet  these rocks have been  
searched by numerous sharp eyes and     
clever hands1  professional as well as  
amateur1 with regular investigation1 and

 in  the sometimes more successful      
trifling of idle moments4 ,it is worthy 
of note that the one exception is no    
scarcely decipherable relic1 the  nature
 of which might remain an open question1
 but a beautiful and  finely-preserved  
scale of phyllolepis concentricus#fc4   
,had there  been only one fish in the   
#8,devonian' waters of the              
neighbourhood1 the  one fish must have  
had more than one scale2 yet none of the
 others are  forthcoming4 ,the science  
of to-morrow may find them2 to the      
science of  to-day they are lost        
irrecoverably4    ,the still-living     
varieties of the oyster are a miserable 
remnant of  the #bee fossil species from
 the chalk described in ,coquand's      
recent  work4 ,professor ,flower1 in    
reviewing this monograph1 remarks1 that 
#8with these mollusks1 numerous as they 
are1 there are no forms that can  fairly
 be recognized as transitional4' ,but   
inasmuch as the succession  in time of  
these species is well-established by the

 different zones of  the chalk in which 
they are found1 we must either accept   
some nine or  ten successive creations  
concerned in the production of oysters1 
or we  must allow the various fossil    
species to be connected with one another
  by descent4 ,upon the latter          
alternative1 a whole chain of           
transitional  links must once have      
existed between the earliest form of    
oyster and  the latest2 and though many 
of these links have been preserved1     
still  more must have been lost1 or     
deprived of their distinctive features2 
so  that here1 where the geological     
record is1 to all appearance1 unusually 
perfect1 its actual imperfection is more
 clearly than ever established4    ,to  
conclude1 then1 in few words3--,the     
majority of dead creatures never  become
 fossils at all4    ,the majority of    
fossils perish miserably in their       
hiding-places4    ,of those that are    
saved1 the majority cannot be got at by 
man4    ,of those that can be1 the      

majority never are4    ,of those that   
are1 a large number prove illegible2 a  
large number are  fragments2 a large    
number duplicates2 and1 lastly1 a large 
number fall  into hands which again lose
 or destroy them4    ,we cannot         
therefore argue1 because fossils of     
such-and-such forms of  life have never 
been found1 that such-and-such forms    
never existed4  ,they may have existed1 
and left no fossils4 ,the fossils may   
have been  left1 and subsequently       
destroyed4 ,the fossils may be          
undestroyed1 but  never have been found4
 ,the sum-total of acquisitions is      
small1 but  precious2 it never can make 
a complete record1 but it may make one  
sufficiently ample to establish the     
,darwinian ,theory1 or to replace it  by
 some still wider and still simpler     
generalization4          ,,darwinism4   
,,the ,,noachian ,,flood4      ,sir1--,a
 friendly correspondent has done me the 
honour of noticing my  lecture on the   
,noachian ,flood in more than one       

contribution to your  columns4 ,the easy
 way in which he admits the possibility 
of a partial  deluge and of pre-,adamite
 races1 together with other symptoms of 
liberal thought and a trust in the      
conclusions of science1 makes me        
tremble to think what would have        
befallen him had he lived #8in happier  
ages of the ,church4' ,at the same time 
these dangerous and lamentable          
tendencies towards free-thinking make it
 needless for me to urge upon  him those
 other and further conclusions towards  
which he is evidently  of his own accord
 rapidly finding his way4 ,but there are
 numerous  persons who may read his     
pleasantly-written letters without      
perceiving  how very far gone he himself
 is from the original simplicity of an  
unquestioning faith1 and may1 therefore1
 fancy that he is a champion  of        
orthodoxy putting down an               
anti-,scriptural disputant1 or showing  
at least1 if he shows nothing more1 that
 the questions in dispute  are still too

 unsettled and vague for plain folks to 
meddle with or  understand4 ,such a     
result is directly opposed to that which
 my lecture  aimed at1 which was to show
 plain folks that the subject not only  
could  be understood1 but ought to be2  
to convince them1 if possible1 that on  
this subject1 and perhaps a few others1 
they were bound by all the laws  of     
truth and honesty either to learn what  
there was to be learned1 or  for the    
future to hold their peace4 ,two        
striking examples were quoted1  from the
 lives of ,columbus and ,galileo1 to    
show that theologians had  dragged the  
,holy ,scriptures through the dirt1 by  
presuming to use their  authority for a 
purpose for which it was never designed1
 in a province  to which it never lays  
claim1 namely1 the trial of evidence in 
natural  science4 ,it seems to have     
escaped the notice of your              
correspondent1  that geography and      
astronomy were no more advanced in those
 days than  geology and palontology in  

our own4 ,but will any one presume to   
tell  us that the ,bible is a match for 
struggling infant sciences1 and may be  
quoted to contradict1 suppress1 and     
crush them1 but that when they are      
full-grown it must in turn succumb to   
their dictation8 ,that is indeed  the   
principle on which1 in the old ,greek   
comedy1 the son justifies  his thrashing
 his aged father1 because in bygone     
years1 when their  strength was         
different1 his aged father had thrashed 
him4 ,only this1 we  must remember1 is  
the invention of an incomparable        
satirist1 meant for  avoidance1 not for 
imitation4    ,it may be remarked1 by   
the way1 that in taking objection to the
  opening sentence of the lecture1 my   
friendly opponent seems to have         
misconceived its purport4 #8,darwinism  
implies1' it says1 #8almost  throughout1
 that no universal deluge has drowned   
our globe1  either within the last ten  
thousand years1 or even within a period 
indefinitely longer4' ,now1 since       

certainly no ,darwinian accepts  the old
 views about the ,deluge1 this sentence 
could scarcely have  been written for   
the benefit of ,darwinians2 and it would
 have  been a very unsophisticated piece
 of rhetoric to say to a popular        
audience--#8,darwinism is true1 so you  
see the old views about the ,deluge  are
 false1' seeing that the popular        
audience might have disposed of the     
argument by the simple plan of          
interchanging the two adjectives4 ,but  
the lecture opens with an acknowledgment
 that a recent universal deluge  would  
be an argument sufficient to upset the  
,darwinian ,theory1 prior  to showing   
that so important an objection to the   
theory is itself on  numerous           
independent grounds untenable4 ,some    
arguments are equally in  harmony with  
,darwinism1 and inconsistent with the   
universality of the  ,noachian ,flood4  
,one of these is to be found in the     
existing diversities  of the human race3
 but your correspondent appears to      

suppose that the  element of time has   
nothing to do with the theory of        
development1 when  he says that #8to    
represent the divergence of races as    
impossible in any  given period1 however
 short1 is strange ground for a         
,darwinian to take  up4' ,he might as   
well require an engineer to believe that
 an engine had  been driven at six      
hundred miles an hour1 because the      
engineer himself  believed it to have   
been driven at the rate of fifty or     
sixty4 ,he only  half states the        
argument against a common ,noachian     
descent founded  on the difference      
between the ,papuans and the ,malays4   
,the striking  point is1 that these two 
contrasted races are separated by almost
 the  very same line which separates two
 great zoological provinces4 ,on the    
old supposition of migration from the   
ark1 that the lower animals1 as  well as
 men1 should have #8agreed to differ' on
 the opposite sides of a  narrow        
deep-sea channel1 was indeed a          

remarkable bundle of coincidences4      
,that traditions of a deluge are        
wide-spread is acknowledged4 ,that they 
are traditions of a universal deluge    
neither is nor can be proved4  ,that    
with all their local variations and     
discrepancies they point  to one and the
 same deluge1 is a question of          
probability1 much more  proper to follow
 than to lead the main argument4 ,we    
shall not gain much  for science or     
religion out of the story of            
,deucalion's flood1 which  attributes   
the origin of the new stock of men and  
women to the pebbles  that ,deucalion   
and his wife threw over their shoulders2
 an ancestry  surely less dignified even
 than that from the orang-outang and the
  gorilla with which ,mr4 ,pengelly and 
,professor ,huxley are supposed to  have
 mortified the dignity of mankind4      
,it is surprising that so many good     
,christian people should feel touchy  on
 this question of an enormously remote  
ancestry1 although they  would1 upon    

occasion1 join with earnestness and true
 humility in the  confession that #8dust
 we are1 and unto dust shall we return4'
 ,in their  reluctance even to examine  
the real truth of the question1 they    
fail  to perceive that the true sons of 
the ,prophets are not their lineal      
descendants1 but those who inherit their
 wisdom2 and that #8a man's a  man for  
a' that1' although his great-grandfather
 should prove to have  been a lob-worm  
or a toad-stool4    ,too much injury to 
religion has been done already by       
confounding false  science with         
,scriptural truth1 to make it either    
#8fair or reverent'  to hold back from  
protesting1 whenever occasion offers1   
against the  mischief4 ,persons         
accustomed with presumptuous or careless
 ignorance  to denounce geology and     
,darwinism1 and the results connected   
with  them1 may have had their          
consciences soothed and encouraged by   
your  correspondent4 ,my charitable     
object is to make those consciences     

uneasy  again#fd4    ,march #bcrd1      
#ahgj4          ,,science ,,and         
,,religion4      ,sir1--,one of your    
correspondents has pithily observed1    
that if he  has denounced ,darwinism1 it
 is simply because he believes it to be 
untrue4 ,could you not1 ,sir1 in the    
interests of science and ,christian     
charity1 prevail upon him to recall his 
denunciation1 by showing him  that      
intellectual error requires not to be   
denounced1 but to be set  right8 ,the   
prejudice against ,darwinism has        
undoubtedly arisen from  a              
conflict--real or apparent--between its 
conclusions and certain  passages of    
,scripture4 ,such a prejudice arose     
against the earlier  advancement of     
astronomy and geology1 and the new      
conclusions arrived  at were #8denounced
 in the interests of ,christian         
orthodoxy1' simply  because those who   
denounced them believed them to be      
untrue4 ,it is  a little sad1 though    
withal a little amusing1 to observe how 

many  persons1 eminent at once for piety
 and ,protestantism1 inveigh against    
the ,papal assumption of infallibility1 
while assuming an infallibility  of     
their own4 ,they know precisely what is 
,scripture doctrine and what  is not4   
,they know exactly what measure of      
inspiration ,god has been  pleased to   
give to this writer or the other4 ,at   
one time they are  sure that a science  
is not true1 because the ,bible does not
 speak in  accordance with the language 
of the science2 at another time they    
discover that the science had all along 
been very clearly revealed in  the      
,bible under a disguise4 ,it            
unfortunately escapes their notice that 
by this means1 while they are reverently
 denouncing the science #8in the        
interests of ,christian orthodoxy1' they
 are under a disguise denouncing  the   
,bible4    #8,in my view1' says your    
correspondent above referred to1 #8the  
,mosaic  writers were divinely taught1  
and knew what they wrote about with  a  

most perfect knowledge4' ,in one sense1 
no doubt1 they did know  what they were 
writing about--they knew that it was    
religion1 and1  therefore1 they never   
pretended to #8enunciate' science1      
whether false  or true2 but in any other
 sense to say that they knew what they  
wrote  about with a most perfect        
knowledge1 is to assert what is highly  
improbable1 and cannot be proved4       
,either it makes every writer a  kind of
 god1 so far as the attribute of        
infallibility is concerned1  or it      
destroys all independence of testimony4 
,to claim for them a  perfect knowledge 
of which they made no use1 except to    
mislead the  world for thousands of     
years1 is surely to commit the capital  
offence  of #8inciting to hatred and    
contempt' of their writings4 ,how alien1
  moreover1 is it to the spirit of the  
writers themselves--men who are         
constantly confessing their own errors1 
doubts1 and perplexities2 men  whose    
path in moral1 let alone intellectual   

excellence1 was not always  direct and  
straightforward1 and who knew and owned 
their infirmity of  nature4 ,how        
contrary1 too1 to every analogy of life 
is this notion of a  ,book1 written in  
perfect language by men of perfect      
knowledge in every  subject that may be 
even incidentally referred to in its    
pages4 ,for  not only is man an         
imperfect being1 but his language is an 
imperfect  instrument of his imperfect  
thoughts4 ,his conscience is fallible2  
his understanding is fallible2 let the  
,book which guides him be as  infallible
 as you please1 he will still bring it  
back to the inherent  imperfection of   
things human by misreading and          
misconceiving it4 ,that  the law of ,god
 is perfect1 follows from the very      
thought of ,god2 that  any particular   
exposition of that law to finite minds  
either is or can  be perfect1 is almost1
 or altogether1 a contradiction in      
terms4 ,far  from knowing all about     
modern systems of ,botany1 ,moses did   

not even  know all about religion as the
 later prophets knew2 nor did they  know
 as we know4 ,their mission would       
probably have been hidden rather  than  
forwarded1 had they been able to        
#8enunciate' scientific truths in       
advance of their age4 ,their new views  
in religion were often roundly  abused2 
their new views in science would hardly 
have escaped denouncing4    ,as a       
caution to the unwary1 it should be     
remarked that the opposition  supposed  
to exist between ,mr4 ,darwin's phrase  
#8,natural ,selection1' and  ,mr4       
,herbert ,spencer's #8,survival of the  
,fittest1' is purely imaginary4  ,the   
latter1 no doubt1 is the more           
philosophically accurate1 the former  is
 a convenient1 popular1 and telling     
metaphor4 ,they both express  the same  
conception of a large and wonderful     
group of facts4 ,perhaps  it will be    
scarcely necessary to caution the unwary
 against taking  for granted that       
#8vestigiform structures are proofs of a

 typical  formation2' but if they are1  
they prove that in the typical formation
  of man a tail was included1 which     
would be such a disgrace to the  typical
 formation as would prevent all worthy  
and decorously-minded  persons from     
believing in typical formations for a   
moment4          ,,darwinism1 ,,and     
,,the ,,first ,,vertebrate4             
,sir1--,your amiable and earnest        
correspondent does not seem to          
understand that men like ,darwin and    
,wallace1 who have spent years of       
patient labour and thought in amassing  
observations of nature1 and  grouping   
together the facts out of which their   
theories have been  formed1 have a right
 to #8an air of philosophical           
superiority1' if they  choose to display
 it1 when questions are asked or        
arguments put forward  which imply      
ignorance or misconception of all they  
have been doing in  the interests of    
science4 ,when ,mr4 ,wallace #8very     
coolly' asserts that  he sees no force  

in an argument1 it will as a rule be    
advisable for the  argument either to   
withdraw itself from the public gaze1 or
 get itself  stated a little more       
lucidly4 ,again1 when ,mr4 ,darwin      
#8rashly affirms  that he has distinct  
evidence' of a thing1 it would perhaps  
be a good  plan to get the              
,commissioners in ,lunacy to examine the
 astonishing  number of hard-headed men 
whom he induces to believe his unfounded
  assertion4    ,but now that ,i have   
prevailed with your correspondent to    
give up  #8denouncing' ,darwinism1 ,i   
wish further to press upon him the      
advantage  of ceasing to #8deny' it1    
and1 above all1 of ceasing to deny it   
with  any admixture of religious        
phraseology in his denial4 ,he has      
himself  allowed that sciences1         
seemingly most at variance with the     
language of  ,scripture1 have come to be
 reconciled with it2 he must see1       
therefore1  that the appearances of     
,scriptural language can be no objection

 to  ,darwinism or to any other         
scientific theory whatever4 ,darwinism  
is  founded on the comparison of an     
enormous number of well-ascertained     
facts issuing in a few generalizations  
of extreme importance if  true1 but also
 of considerable importance1 even if far
 short of  the truth4 ,every hypothesis 
which will explain a large number of    
hitherto disconnected facts1 though it  
may be in itself erroneous1  helps and  
guides men in the end towards the true  
explanation4 ,to  #8deny1' or1 in other 
words1 to make a public protest against 
such  hypotheses without having anything
 better or equal1 or a tenth part  as   
good to offer in their stead1 is to be a
 hinderer of science1 and1  instead of  
being really pious and reverent1 is a   
very pretty1 though  doubtless          
unconscious imitation of that rhetoric  
which1 because of the  acknowledged     
difficulties in every form of religion1 
#8denies' religion  altogether4    ,that
 your correspondent does lay just a     

little tiny claim to  infallibility is  
clear from the very letter in which he  
modestly  disowns it3 for he therein    
prays always to be enabled to think and 
act  about the interpretation of        
,scripture as he now thinks and acts1   
which  would be a foolish prayer1 if his
 present thoughts and actions might     
possibly be wrong or misguided4 ,and yet
 he differs from a very large  number of
 divines1 in supposing that the         
prophets1 for instance1 knew  all that  
their own prophecies portended2 so that 
if all those worthy  divines be right in
 assuming that the inspired writers did 
not always  #8know what they wrote      
about1' then your correspondent1 who    
makes the  contrary supposition1 must be
 wrong1--and there will still be some   
hope  for ,darwinism4    ,it is scarcely
 fair to ask for space to answer his    
momentous challenge  about the first    
vertebrate1 or to explain the thoroughly
 sceptical  form which the challenge    
assumes4 ,when the ,apostle ,thomas     

said1  #8except ,i see the print of the 
nails1 ,i will not believe1' he had  no 
logical claim to receive the proof of   
the resurrection which he  demanded1    
because a priori it would have been     
quite fair to suppose  our ,lord's      
resurrection-body would retain no such  
signs of previous  outrage2 and it is a 
kindred mistake to suppose that the     
truth of  the development-theory in any 
way hinges upon the possibility of      
constructing an effigy of the first     
vertebrate either as it actually  was1  
or to suit an anti-,darwinian's notions 
of what it ought to have  been4         
,according to the development-theory1 it
 must have been the  product of         
innumerable antecedent factors1 itself  
the heir of many  far-descended and     
often modified characters2 and yet1 for 
all that1 it  will probably have been a 
far simpler organism than the simplest  
modern  vertebrate4 ,it is well known by
 what insensible gradations the natural 
kingdoms and the classes in those great 

divisions pass1 so to speak1  into one  
another2 it need1 therefore1 cause no   
surprise if the primary  vertebrate of  
all the vertebrates should prove neither
 to have been  fish1 flesh1 fowl1 nor   
good red herring2 but for an actual     
specimen  of a living vertebrate that   
can neither #8swim1 crawl1 fly1 nor     
walk1'  ,i cannot do better than refer  
my philosophical opponent to a new-born 
baby4          ,,the ,,first            
,,vertebrate1 ,,and ,,the ,,beginning   
,,of ,,reason4      ,sir1--,against your
 correspondent's preference for         
vernacular terms  may be set a remark by
 ,dr4 ,whewell1 that #8the loose and    
infantine  grasp of common language     
cannot hold objects steadily enough for 
scientific examination1 or lift them    
from one stage of generalization  to    
another4 ,they must be secured by the   
rigid mechanism of a  scientific        
phraseology4' ,to say that #8the first  
vertebrate must have  been the product  
of innumerable antecedent factors1' is1 

perhaps1 an  expression more puzzling   
than if one merely said that #8its      
immediate  progenitors' were #8a single 
pair2' but then it has the advantage  of
 being considerably more suggestive1 and
 a good deal more to the  purpose4      
,among these #8factors' of a living     
creature parents commonly  find a       
place1--two parents generally2 in some  
cases1 only one2 in some  cases1 not    
even one1 if we are to believe the      
advocates of spontaneous  generation1 or
 the still popular view in regard to the
 ,creation4 ,to  the parental factors of
 any particular offspring must be added 
those  which are constituted by food and
 climate and a multitude of changes  and
 chances in the whole course of its     
existence4 ,some characters it  may     
derive from remote ancestors1           
transmitted through1 though not         
developed in1 its #8immediate           
progenitors4' ,it is now forty years    
since  two ,french anatomists showed the
 possibility1 or even probability1 of  a

 connection between the molluscous      
cuttle-fish and the vertebrate  type2   
and1 considering the propensity of the  
highest vertebrate for  perpetually     
squirting ink at those who meddle with  
it1 most readers  of controversy will   
think the instance well selected4 ,those
 who wish  to be told what the first    
vertebrate was probably like1 should    
first  accurately define what they mean 
by a vertebrate4 ,is a jointed backbone 
the only essential8 ,and if so1 how many
 vertebr are essentially  requisite8 ,a 
creature with two vertebr would be as   
much a vertebrate  as a creature with   
three4 ,what shall we say1 then1 of a   
creature  possessing1 if we may use the 
expression1 but a single vertebra8 ,it  
would not have a jointed backbone4 ,it  
would not be a vertebrate4 ,yet1  by the
 simple multiplication of similar parts1
 in accordance with a  thousand         
analogies1 a vertebrate could be        
developed from it4 ,by the              
differentiation of these similar parts1 

which not only might follow1  but must  
follow1 a great variety of species could
 easily be evolved4  ,those who really  
take an interest in the problems        
connected with this  subject1 and whose 
#8convictions' are not too strong and   
absolute to be  swayed by ascertained   
facts and logical reasoning will do well
 to study  the #8,principles of         
,biology1' ,herbert ,spencer4 ,they will
 there see  by what extraordinarily     
simple gradations the lowliest organisms
 are  connected with higher and the     
highest forms4 ,they will there find    
that  #8modification of characters' is a
 doctrine less intricate than might  be 
supposed1 even if it cannot be wholly   
explained in words of one  syllable4    
,if any intelligent persons can discern 
the undulatory theory of light  and the 
modern system of botany in the first    
chapter of ,genesis1 no  one would wish 
to complain of their ingenuity1 unless  
they proposed to  support a particular  
theory of inspiration by these          

discoveries4 ,but  then1 if the theories
 of science are only #8the undulations  
of human  opinion1' it becomes necessary
 to ask why the botanical undulation of 
the present day is accepted as a        
witness1 and the ,darwinian undulation  
rejected4 ,had the famous ,pagan critic1
 to whom your correspondent  #8,r4 ,t4  
,e4' refers1 imagined the sentence1     
#8,let there be light1  and there was   
light1' to be a scientific description  
instead of a  theological one1 we may   
feel sure that he would have condemned  
it for  bombast instead of praising it  
for its majesty of expression4 ,as it   
is1 he does not declare it to be the    
sublimest sentence ever uttered1  but   
remarks that #8the lawgiver of the      
,jews1 no common man1 having            
comprehended the power of the divinity  
according to the just conception  of it1
 unfolded it agreeably thereto1' both in
 this and in the parallel  phrase1      
#8,let the dry land appear1 and it was  
so4' ,that all things which  are and    

which become1 both are what they are and
 become what they  become by the simple 
fiat of the supreme ,god1 is a piece of 
elementary  philosophy and religion1    
which1 ,i conceive1 ,sir1 none of your  
correspondents can have any wish to     
dispute2 but that the writer of         
,genesis anticipated by his scientific  
knowledge the epoch of ,copernicus  and 
,newton1 ,young and ,fresnel1 ,linnus1  
,de ,jussieu and ,cuvier1 is not  only  
not proven by the few simple phrases of 
his writings that have  anything        
remotely to do with the branches of     
science which they so  nobly            
illustrated2 much more than this1 it    
would be a disgrace and  heavy          
imputation upon him had he known all    
they believed1 and yet  expressed       
himself so badly as to leave the world  
for thousands of years  in ignorance of 
the very germs of the true theories1 so 
obscurely  that no one should ever have 
dreamed that he was alluding to the true
  theories till after they had been     

independently discovered4    ,your      
correspondent #8,xn' will find both his 
pleasure and his profit in  reading the 
chapter on ,instinct in #8,darwin's     
,origin of ,species4' ,it  will give him
 some idea1 ,i say not1 how the         
reasoning faculty was first  acquired1  
but how it may have been gradually      
developed4 ,by a careful  study of the  
same work he1 and many others who need  
the knowledge1 will  see that in        
accordance with ,darwinism the          
deterioration of a species is  quite    
possible4 ,his quaintly expressed       
argument about ,adam's #8immediate      
progenitor' omits to notice that in the 
moral world it is a step  upward to     
become capable of sinning1 just as in   
the physical world it  is a step upward 
to become capable of dying1 so that the 
wretchedest  man with reason is higher  
in the scale than the noblest dog1 and  
the  humblest plant than the costliest  
and most beautiful stone4 ,the other    
difficulty which he puts forward of an  

abrupt transition between the  first man
 with reason and the parents of such a  
man without reason is a  difficulty1    
like that in regard to the first        
vertebrate1 one of words  rather than of
 facts4 ,as with the origin of language 
and of languages1  as with the origin of
 the natural kingdoms and of every      
individual form  of life1 so with the   
origin of reason2 could we see the whole
 series of  steps1 with their infinitely
 numerous and sometimes almost          
infinitely  fine and subtle points of   
discrimination1 we should probably be   
unable  to fix upon any one definite    
division and say1 here noise ends and   
articulate language begins2 or1 here    
,saxon ends and ,english begins2 or1    
this is the top of instinct1 and this   
the dawn of reason4          ,,oysters  
,,of ,,the ,,chalk1 ,,and ,,the ,,theory
 ,,of ,,development4#fe      ,the       
interesting notice in your last number1 
of ,m4 ,coquand's #8,oysters of  the    
,chalk1' draws inferences unfavourable  

to the theory of development  or        
evolution which scarcely seem warranted 
by the facts4 ,it need not be           
#8difficult to imagine the creature as  
existing under such conditions1  that   
one species1 while engaged in 8the      
struggle for existence10 should  starve 
out and extinguish another2' for however
 widely we may find  a fossil species   
dispersed1 it is not probable that it   
occupied the  whole of its territory at 
one and the same time1 and in the       
limited  area occupied immediately      
before its extinction1 new varieties may
  have prevailed over and displaced the 
old by some slightly superior           
adaptation to the food-supply of the    
region4 ,the extinction of  any         
particular species may in some instances
 have been due to the  extinction1 or   
loss by other means1 of its own         
appropriate food4  ,again1 it is not    
necessary to suppose that the hinge1 or 
the internal  or external structure of  
the shell of an oyster1 has been altered

 by  what may be called the direct      
action of #8natural selection1' since by
  the well-established principle of     
#8correlation' the variation in one     
part of an organism is nearly or quite  
certain to produce variations  in other 
parts4 #8,if any such change did occur1'
 it is argued1 #8it must  have been per 
saltum1 since with these mollusks1      
numerous as they  are1 there are no     
forms that can fairly be recognised as  
transitional4'  ,but this appeal to the 
evidence of facts is somewhat premature4
 ,the  immense difference pointed out   
between the geological records of       
,england and ,france in regard to these 
very oysters of the chalk1  leaves it   
perfectly open for us to suppose that   
even the comparatively  full ,french    
record is itself exceedingly imperfect1 
and that the  transitional forms have   
either not been preserved1 or remain yet
 to be  discovered4 ,mr4 ,darwin gives  
reasons for believing that when         
variation  once begins it continues with

 some vigour2 hence1 between two settled
  wide-spread species connected         
genealogically together we might expect 
a  large number of transitional         
varieties1 each represented by only a   
few  individuals1 so that the whole     
number of these transitional forms might
  well be lost to the genealogical      
record4    ,finally1 the objection from 
the scarcity of oysters at the present  
day1 compared with the great abundance  
of species in the past1 does  not really
 touch the theory of development1 which 
is concerned to  explain how species    
come into existence1 not how they go out
 of it4  ,that varieties1 species1      
genera1 have been superseded or         
extinguished1  within longer or shorter 
periods1 is a fact admitted on all      
hands4  ,the general principle of       
natural selection will account for this 
in  the rough1 maintaining as it does   
that fresh varieties1 species1 and      
genera better adapted to the surrounding
 circumstances have arisen1  and by     

their superior adaptation unavoidably   
ousted the older forms4  ,digging down  
into the records of history we find a   
time when the  ,romans were supreme in  
the civilized world2 no two consecutive 
years  of the interval present any      
remarkable divergence of the prevailing 
conditions1 yet now we may say of that  
,roman supremacy in the civilized       
world1 that1 #8like the ,mastodon1 it is
 a thing of the past4'    ,torquay1 ,may
 #ad1 #ahgj4          ,,the             
,,mathematical ,,test ,,of ,,natural    
,,selection4#ff      ,the soul of many  
an anti-,darwinian will have been       
cheered by ,mr4 ,a4 ,w4  ,bennett's     
paper on #8,the ,theory of ,natural     
,selection from a ,mathematical  ,point 
of ,view4' ,it is1 in fact1 a very      
admirable piece of special  pleading1   
based on a skilful assumption of        
premisses which1 to a  careless or      
biassed observer1 might seem            
indisputable4    ,the tendency to       
variation is spoken of as something very

 mysterious1 of  which no adequate      
account has ever yet been given4 ,yet   
the very simple  explanation is no bad  
one1--that where two parents are        
concerned in  the production of any     
offspring1 the product in part          
resembling each  of the producers must  
of necessity also in part differ from   
each of  them4 ,between the parents     
themselves1 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer has  
shown  that differences of age and      
external circumstances would ensure the 
requisite want of resemblance in the    
absence of any other cause4    #8,the   
rigid test of mathematical calculation' 
is then applied to the  case of mimetic 
butterflies1 with the view of showing   
that they could  not have been produced 
simply according to the laws of         
variation1  inheritance1 and natural    
selection4 ,in the application of this  
rigid  test1 the very first step is a   
perfectly gratuitous assumption1 #8that 
it would require1 at the very lowest    
calculation1 one thousand steps  to     

enable the normal ,leptalis to put on   
its protective form4' ,who is  to prove 
that fifty differences would be         
insufficient8 ,an interval of  a        
thousand years might be granted for     
establishing each one of these          
variations4 ,suppose even fifty         
thousand1 instead of only fifty steps1  
to be necessary1 it is another          
gratuitous assumption that #8the        
smallest  change in the direction of the
 ,ithomia1 which we can conceive on any 
hypothesis to be beneficial to the      
,leptalis1 is at the very lowest        
one-fiftieth of the change required to  
produce perfect resemblance4'  ,how     
small a difference must decide the      
choice made by a donkey placed          
equidistant between two bundles of hay6 
,certainly1 then1 a bird on the  wing1  
having to choose amidst myriads of      
butterflies1 may be determined  by an   
almost infinitesimal distinction4       
,further1 though the whole  change may  
be produced by an immense number of     

small changes1 it is not  necessary to  
suppose that all the changes will be    
equally small4 ,it  is merely begging   
the question to assume that the first   
change could  not possibly be large     
enough to be of any use4 ,and if it may 
be of  use1 the whole mathematical      
calculation1 based on its being useless1
  breaks down from the beginning4       
,again1 since the ,leptalis may have    
spent one million years in arriving at  
its present likeness to the  present    
,ithomia1 it is impossible to assert    
that the normal forms  of the two       
butterflies were as wide apart at the   
beginning of that  period as they are at
 present4 ,the mimicry having once set  
in1 might be  retained by parallel      
variations4 ,this1 indeed1 cannot fail  
to be the  case1 if the protection is to
 be a lasting one2 for when the ,ithomia
  varies in outward appearance1 unless  
the ,leptalis varies in the same        
direction1 the resemblance will be lost4
 ,this progressive mimicry  would be    

more valuable than an imitation in which
 no changes occurred1  since the enemies
 of a mimetic species would in time     
become aware of  a fraud which had no   
variations at its command1 as birds are 
said  now-a-days to pounce without      
hesitation upon caterpillars which very 
much resemble twigs#fg4 ,even #8a rough 
imitation' may be useful in the  first  
instance1 and yet when hostile eyes have
 long been exercised1 and  have acquired
 greater and greater sharpness1 finally 
nothing less than  absolute identity of 
appearance may be thoroughly effective4 
,thus  the perfecting of the resemblance
 will be no #8mere freak of ,nature1'   
nor shall we be #8landed in the dilemma 
that the last stages are  comparatively 
useless' in this procedure4    ,the     
array of figures brought forward to     
prove that the ,leptalis  could not have
 made twenty steps of variation in the  
direction of the  ,ithomia by chance1   
would be much to the purpose if any     
exponent of  the theory of ,natural     

,selection had ever argued or supposed  
that  it could4 ,the calculation takes  
it for granted that the theory is       
erroneous1 instead of proving it to be  
in error4 ,upon this assumption1  it    
might have been put far more strongly1  
only that a stronger way  of putting it 
would have borne on the face of it the  
suspicion of  some inherent fallacy4 ,it
 begins by supposing that there are     
#8twenty  different ways in which a     
,leptalis may vary1 only one of these   
being  in the direction ultimately      
required2' it might quite as truthfully1
  or even more so1 have said a thousand 
instead of twenty1 and then the  second 
step would have given the chance as only
 one in a million1  instead of one in   
four hundred4 ,but while the theory of  
,natural  ,selection speaks of numerous 
minute useful variations1 ,mr4 ,bennett 
will not allow that combination of      
terms4 ,let them be numerous and        
minute1 if you will1 he says2 but if    
small1 they cannot be useful2 if        

useful1 they cannot be small4 ,he claims
 to have ,mr4 ,darwin's own word  for   
it1 that a large variation would not be 
permanent1 as though ,mr4  ,darwin had  
said1 #8living creatures have come to be
 what they are by  successive useful    
deviations of structure permanently     
propagated1 but  no large deviations are
 permanent1 and no small ones are       
useful4' ,it  is quite obvious that in  
the use of relative terms1 such as great
 and  small1 ,mr4 ,darwin neither       
intended to stultify himself nor has    
done  so4 ,a thing may be large enough  
to be useful without being large as     
compared with something twenty times its
 own size2 and a man may be  said to    
have a huge brain in a very small body1 
although the body in  solid content far 
exceeds the brain4 ,when ,mr4 ,darwin   
says that #8,natural  ,selection always 
acts with extreme slowness'1 he does not
 imply that  its steps must therefore be
 so numerous as to be too small to      
confer  any advantage4 ,this would be a 

contradiction in terms4 ,but the steps  
may be exceedingly small                
notwithstanding1 and also sometimes     
separated  by enormous intervals of time
 from one another4    ,in introducing   
his own explanation of things1 ,mr4     
,bennett affirms that  #8resemblances1  
and resemblances of the most wonderful  
and perfect kind'  in the vegetable     
kingdom1 #8are in no sense mimetic or   
protective4' ,this  may be so1 but it   
can hardly be said to be proved4 ,when  
he speaks of  #8man's reason' having    
#8assisted him so to modify his body as 
to adapt  himself to the circumstances  
with which he is surrounded1' and       
suggests  that the instinct of animals  
may have assisted them also to modify   
their bodies by slow and gradual degrees
 to the same purpose1 it is  difficult  
to imagine the process intended1 and    
still more difficult to  see how #8the  
slow and gradual degrees' will escape   
the rigid test of  mathematical         
calculation which ,mr4 ,bennett has     

elsewhere applied2 for  if the steps are
 great1 they ought not to be permanent2 
and if small1  they ought not to be     
useful4 ,a theory which makes it        
possible for a  bee to #8modify its     
proboscis' by instinct1 or for a man to 
treat his  nose in the same manner by   
reason1 seems harder of digestion than  
the  ,darwinian4    ,torquay1 ,nov4 #ab1
 #ahgj4          ,,the ,,genesis ,,of   
,,species4      ,a review in #8,nature1'
 by ,mr4 ,a4 ,w4 ,bennett1 of ,mr4      
,mivart's #8,genesis of  ,species1'     
contains the following passage3--       
#8,it behoves1 therefore1 every         
,darwinian to satisfy himself that      
either  ,mr4 ,mivart's premisses or his 
line of argument is unsound4    #8,the  
objections brought forward by the author
 are summed up as  follows3--7#a7 ,that 
,natural ,selection is incompetent to   
account for the  incipient stages of    
useful structures4 7#b7 ,that it does   
not harmonize  with the coexistence of  
closely similar structures of diverse   

origin4  7#c7 ,that there are grounds   
for thinking that specific differences  
may  be developed suddenly instead of   
gradually4 7#d7 ,that the opinion that  
species have definite though different  
limits to their variability is  still   
tenable4 7#e7 ,that certain fossil      
transitional forms are absent  which    
might have been expected to be present4 
7#f7 ,that some facts of  geological    
distribution supplement other           
difficulties4 7#g7 ,that the  objection 
drawn from the physiological difference 
between 8species0  and 8races0 still    
exists unrefuted4 7#h7 ,that there are  
many remarkable  phenomena in organic   
forms upon which ,natural ,selection    
throws no  light whatever1 but the      
explanations of which1 if they could be 
attained1 might throw light upon        
specific origination4    #8,if these    
objections are not new1 they are at     
least sustained by new  arguments4 ,they
 are evidently of very unequal value4   
,the third is very  difficult of proof  

or disproof4 ,the fifth may be true in  
our present  state of knowledge1 but    
would be very unsafe by itself as the   
basis of  an argument4 ,the first1      
second1 and eighth are of greatest      
value1 and  are those which ,mr4 ,mivart
 has most closely worked out#fh4'       
,the review containing the above passage
 did not appear till the  present volume
 was on the very eve of publication4    
,even a hasty glance  at ,mr4 ,mivart's 
book is sufficient to show that ,mr4    
,bennett has not  over-estimated its    
importance and value4 ,it is scarcely   
possible here  to do more than make a   
few reflections upon its general scope1 
in reply  to the challenge offered to   
,darwinians4 ,the first objection1 as it
  stands in the summary1 wears the      
appearance of a misconception4 ,it is   
almost certain to produce one4 ,when    
,mr4 ,darwin attributes the origin  of  
species to ,natural ,selection1 he      
includes expressly1 and where not       
expressly1 by obvious implication1 the  

principle of ,variability4 ,he  never   
maintains that the first or any         
subsequent stage of a useful  structure 
can be produced by ,natural ,selection4 
,natural ,selection  only operates to   
preserve4 ,without ,variation it would  
have no sphere  in which to operate1 so 
that from one point of view ,mr4 ,darwin
 may  be said to attribute the origin of
 species to ,variation rather than      
,natural ,selection4 ,he is1 moreover1  
far from ignoring the influence  of     
other principles1 such as ,inheritance1 
,reversion1 and ,correlation1  upon the 
total result4 ,he may be thought        
inconsistent with himself in  laying    
stress at times upon the minuteness of  
the variations which he  supposes to    
have slowly accumulated into specific   
differences1 and at  other times        
admitting the sudden appearance of      
variations which may  be considered as  
large ones1 and which are certainly     
striking4 ,but in  the first instance   
the great and almost overwhelming       

difficulty was to  induce a belief that 
forms specifically different could be   
connected  with one another by descent4 
,by showing that a multitude of small   
differences accumulated would make a    
large total difference1 he made  as it  
were a bridge for the existing          
incredulity4 ,it now appears that  the  
gulf may be passed with easy strides    
instead of the little slow  steps at    
first thought necessary4 ,this fortifies
 the doctrine of the  ,transmutation of 
,species1 in proportion as there are    
fewer #8missing  links1' fewer          
transitional forms that need to be      
accounted for4    ,of #8the coexistence 
of closely similar structures of diverse
 origin1'  illustrated so forcibly by   
the instance of the eye1 #8in at least  
three independent lines of descent1 the 
,mollusca1 the ,annulosa1 and  the      
,vertebrata1' it can scarcely be denied 
that ,natural ,selection  alone would be
 an inadequate explanation4 ,but here   
again it should  be observed that       

,darwinism does not attribute everything
 to ,natural  ,selection4 ,it assumes1  
what must be allowed1 that variations   
occur4 ,in  obedience to what laws those
 variations themselves are produced is  
an  interesting speculation1 and a most 
important subject of inquiry4 ,that     
such laws or conditions of ,variation   
exist no one can doubt1 unless he  has  
been seduced by ,ovidian metamorphoses  
to believe in trees bleeding  human     
blood and human foreheads branching with
 the antlers of the stag4  ,a knowledge 
of those conditions might fully explain 
the coexistence of  similar structures  
of diverse origin1 consistently with the
 principle  of ,natural ,selection4 ,the
 ignorance of them is scarcely a proof  
that  such coexistence does not         
harmonize with it4    ,the objection    
that giraffes1 which profited by long   
necks in a time  of drought1 would find 
them a disadvantage subsequently1 as    
requiring  a greatly increased size and 
strength of muscles to support them1    

overlooks the law of correlation1 by    
assuming that the elongated neck  would 
be out of proportion to the other       
conditions of the creature's  fabric4   
,mr4 ,mivart's fourth objection seems at
 least an extremely improbable  opinion4
 ,he refers to ,mr4 ,darwin's           
expression1 that the goose appears  to  
have a highly inflexible organization1  
as if he himself thought  it possible   
for a species at length to attain to an 
organization  completely inflexible4    
,such a view would imply two parents    
exactly like  one another1 producing    
offspring exactly like themselves2 and  
of such  exact likenesses no known      
families afford examples4    ,the       
seventh objection recalls the still     
unexplained physiological  difference   
between #8species' and #8races1' unions 
between the former  being sterile1 and  
between the latter fertile4 ,in this    
branch of the  subject there is much    
scope still for inquiry4 ,some of the   
difficulty  may be due to a trick played

 us by language4 ,true species have been
  defined to be those that are not      
fertile together2 and from the          
definition it follows that races which  
are fertile together are  not true      
species4 ,but the question is obscured  
by the use of the two  different words  
#8races' and #8species1' the real issue 
being1 whether  races that are and races
 that are not fertile together can      
originate  in the same way4 ,the subject
 in its other bearings has been largely 
discussed by ,mr4 ,darwin in his work on
 #8,animals and ,plants under           
,domestication4'    ,it remains only to 
say a few words on the argument from the
 calculation  of chances which is       
supposed to reduce the survival by      
natural  selection of any particular    
useful variation almost or altogether to
  an arithmetical impossibility4 #8,the 
advantage1' we are told1 #8whatever  it 
may be1 is utterly outbalanced by       
numerical inferiority4 ,a million       
creatures are born3 ten thousand survive

 to produce offspring4 ,one of  the     
million has twice as good a chance as   
any other of surviving3 but  the chances
 are fifty to one against the gifted    
individual's being  one of the hundred  
survivors4 ,no doubt the chances are    
twice as great  against any one other   
individual1 but this does not prevent   
their  being enormously in favour of    
some average individual#fi4' ,in this   
calculation it seems to be overlooked   
that every individual will vary  more or
 less1 and that out of a million        
variations there is a very  great       
probability that one should give much   
more than the amount of  advantage which
 the calculation supposes4 ,nor does it 
follow that a  variation conferring     
great advantage in the struggle for life
 should be  great in comparison with a  
creature's general organization4 ,there 
is  a very probable alternative1 that   
when the advantages are exceedingly     
slight they may be shared by a great    
many1 and that when falling to  the lot 

of only one or a few1 they may be       
exceedingly important4 ,the  doctrines  
of reversion and inheritance are pressed
 into the service  of the arithmetical  
argument to show that the acquired      
advantage  would be gradually diminished
 and finally lost4 ,but ,mr4 ,darwin    
tells  us that1 #8when a new character  
appears1 it is occasionally from the    
first well-fixed#gj4' ,the chances upon 
one principle that a character  will not
 be transmitted are not worth           
consideration1 if1 under the  operation 
of some other principle known or        
unknown1 the transmission  of the       
character actually takes place4 ,we are 
asked whether one white  man1 introduced
 into an island otherwise inhabited only
 by negroes1  would be likely to give   
the whole island eventually a white1 or 
even  a yellow1 population4 ,without    
trying the experiment1 we may perhaps   
safely answer in the negative4 ,but the 
illustration loses much or all  of its  
point1 when we consider how little the  

circumstances of the  experiment would  
correspond with what ordinarily happens 
in nature1  how little we know whether  
the white man's colour would be really  
an  advantage or the reverse1 and how   
complicated are the differences  between
 a white man and a negro4 ,if the       
blackness of the negro be due  to       
,natural ,selection in any considerable 
degree1 we should expect it to  suit the
 conditions which surround him in his   
native habitation better  than a white  
skin would do4 ,in this case the pallor 
introduced into the  breed by a solitary
 stranger would gradually disappear in  
obedience  to the principles of ,natural
 ,selection1 not in opposition to them4 
,to  take once more the instance of the 
giraffe2 the useful variation is  here  
by hypothesis an elongated neck2 it is  
conceivable that out of  large herds the
 few survivors of a drought might be    
exclusively such as  possessed this     
advantage to some extent4 ,these would  
probably transmit  to a large majority  

of their descendants the tendency to    
vary in a  given direction which they   
had themselves all more or less         
exhibited4  ,their progeny1 moreover1   
would be placed in exceptionally        
favourable  circumstances by the very   
fact that in the previous drought so    
many of  the same species had been      
starved to death1 who would otherwise   
have  furnished their chief competitors 
in the struggle for existence4 ,it  is  
still objected that upon this           
supposition many other animals ought  to
 have acquired giraffe-like necks4 ,but 
such an expectation is far  from being  
warranted by the principles of ,natural 
,selection4 ,since  all variations are  
potentially useful1 but only those are  
preserved  which suit the surrounding   
conditions among which they are         
exhibited1  the calculation of chances  
will itself plead for the probability   
that  a variety of variations will be   
preserved1 rather than the same many    
times over4 ,other species competing    

with the giraffe for food would  be     
little likely to gain an advantage over 
it by a slight increase in  length of   
neck1 though by other variations they   
might achieve a decided  superiority4   
,it is obvious1 also1 that the advantage
 assigned to the  elongated neck would  
belong to many other possible           
variations1 such as  a lengthened       
proboscis1 far-reaching arms1 the       
climbing powers of the  snake or the    
monkey1 the flight of the bird or the   
insect2 all of which  may be due to     
,natural ,selection and the subsidiary  
principles which the  theory of         
,development embraces4    ,the calling  
in of subsidiary principles may be      
thought to spoil the  boasted simplicity
 of the theory4 ,but such an opinion is 
hypercritical4  ,one might truthfully   
say of a great patriot that all he did  
was in  obedience to the simple law of  
duty1 without implying that he was      
exempt from the law of association of   
ideas1 or independent of the            

mechanical1 chemical1 and vital laws    
which regulate many of the  functions of
 all human beings alike4                
,,footnotes4      #a ,these papers were 
read at various dates between ,february 
#ahfi and  ,january #ahga1 before the   
,torquay ,natural ,history ,society4    
#b ,read before the ,devonshire         
,association1 ,july #ahgj4    #c        
,horace1 ,odes1 ,i4 xvi4 #ac3--         
,fertur ,prometheus addere principi     
,limo coactus particulam undique        
,desectam1 et insani leonis             
,vim stomacho apposuisse nostro4      #d
 ,lyell1 #8,principles of ,geology1'    
vol4 ii4 p4 #cbd4 ,tenth ,edition4    #e
 ,darwin1 #8,animals and ,plants under  
,domestication1' vol4 ii4 p4 #bea4    #f
 #a1jgc1gda1hbd grains4    #g #8,on the 
,origin of ,species1' p4 #gd4 ,fourth   
,edition4    #h ,darwin1 #8,animals and 
,plants under ,domestication1' vol4 ii4 
p4 #cgi4    #i #cg dwts4 #g grs41 or    
#hie grs41 between seven and eight times
 the  size of the wild fruit4 ,see      

#8,animals and ,plants under            
,domestication1'  vol4 i4 p4 #cef4      
#aj ,darwin1 #8,animals and ,plants     
under ,domestication1' passim4    #aa   
#8,animals and ,plants under            
,domestication1' vol4 ii4 pp4 #cdh-cea4 
#ab ,an important caution may here be   
quoted from ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4     
#8,an impression1' he says1 #8has been  
given by those who have popularized  the
 sentiments of ,embryologists1 that1    
during its development1 each  higher    
organism passes through stages in which 
it resembles the adult  forms of lower  
organisms--that the embryo of a man is  
at one time like  a fish1 and at another
 time like a reptile4 ,this is not the  
fact4 ,the  fact established is1 that up
 to a certain point the embryos of a man
  and a fish continue similar1 and that 
then differences begin to appear  and   
increase--the one embryo approaching    
more and more towards the form  of a    
fish2 the other diverging from it more  
and more4 ,and so with the  resemblances

 to the more advanced                   
types4'--,principles of ,biology1  vol4 
i4 p4 #adc4    #ac #8,origin of         
,species1' p4 #bgj4 ,mr4 ,darwin shows  
how the hexagonal  cells of the hive-bee
 can have arisen from the simple        
cylindrical form1  by bringing the      
cylinders sufficiently near together1 so
 that their  outlines1 if completed1    
would intersect4    ,the humble-bee     
makes separate and very irregular       
rounded cells4    ,the melipona         
domestica makes cells that are nearly   
spherical1 but too  near together for   
the spheres to be complete1 flat walls  
of wax being  built where they tend to  
intersect4    ,a little extra           
regularity1 advantageous for the saving 
of wax and  labour1 would produce the   
symmetrical comb of the hive-bee with   
its two  layers of hexagonal prisms4    
#ad ,see #8,principles of ,biology1'    
vol4 i4 pp4 #dbh-dca4    #ae #8,origin  
of ,species1' p4 #bac2 #8,principles of 
,biology1' vol4 i4 pp4  #cib1 #cid4 ,the

 walking-fishes of ,india and the       
mud-fishes of ,ceylon  and ,new ,zealand
 are described in an interesting article
 by ,dr4 ,day of  ,torquay1 in #8,all   
the ,year ,round' for ,june #aath1      
#ahgj4 ,dr4 ,day seems to  think the    
climbing powers of the anabas scandens  
less satisfactorily  attested than other
 attributes of these extraordinary      
groups4    #af ,carpenter1 #8,animal    
,physiology1' chap4 #ad4    #ag ,the    
design of this ,essay was not1 as has   
been erroneously  supposed1 to disprove 
the universality of the ,deluge by help 
of  ,darwinism1 but to remove one great 
obstacle to the general acceptance  of  
,darwinism by disproving the            
universality of the ,deluge4 ,taking the
  ,theory of ,development for granted1 a
 recent universal ,deluge would be  too 
obviously impossible to need arguing    
against4    #ah ,lyell1 #8,principles of
 ,geology1' ii4 #ccb4    #ai ,ibid4 ii4 
#cdd4    #bj ,lyell1 ii4 #ccf4    #ba   
#8,the ,malay ,archipelago1' vol4 ii4 p4

 #ddh4    #bb #8,genesis of the ,earth  
and of ,man1' p4 #aag2 quoted in ,sir   
,j4  ,lubbock's #8,prehistoric ,times1' 
p4 #cad4    #bc ,a religious and        
supremely orthodox poet of the last     
century  enquires1 #8,where is the dust 
that has not been alive8'--,young1      
#8,night  ,thoughts1' ,night ,,ix1 #a4  
#hg4    #bd #8,mushrooms and            
,toadstools4'--,worthington ,g4 ,smith1 
p4 #ag4    #be #8,genesis of the ,earth 
and of ,man1' pp4 #aac1 #aad4    #bf    
,genesis1 chap4 xi4    #bg ,sir ,john   
,lubbock1 #8,prehistoric ,times1' pp4   
#cch1 #cdf1 #deb2  ,herodotus1 iv4 #bf4 
#bh ,see ,mill's #8,history of ,british 
,india1' book ii4 ch4 i4 and notes4     
#bi #8,prehistoric ,man1' ,dr4 ,daniel  
,wilson1 p4 #aja4    #cj #8,the         
,daughter of ,galileo1' by the author of
 #8,mary ,powell1' p4 #bhc4    #ca      
#8,origin of ,species1' p4 #bfh4    #cb 
#8,good ,words for the ,young1' ,june   
#ahgj4 ,animal ,defences4 ,by ,a4 ,w4   
,drayson4    #cc ,wallace1 #8,essays on 

,natural ,selection1' p4 #bbg4    #cd   
#8,the ,spectator1' ,no4 #abj4    #ce   
#8,spectator1' ,no4 #aba4    #cf ,nos4  
#aef1 #aeg4    #cg #8,spectator1' ,no4  
#eai4    #ch #8,natural ,history1'      
#ihe4 #8,it is a common experience that 
dogs  know the dog-killer2 when1 as in  
times of infection1 some petty fellow   
is sent out to kill the dogs2 and that  
though they have never seen him  before1
 yet they will all come forth1 and bark 
and fly at him4'    #ci ,see #8,knight's
 ,half-,hours with the ,best ,authors4' 
,no4 #ahe3 from  #8,the ,fool of        
,quality4'    #dj #8,essays on ,natural 
,selection1' p4 #bdh4    #da ,ibid4 p4  
#abh4    #db ,this ,essay was originally
 prepared as a sermon for ,trinity      
,sunday4 ,for the text were quoted the  
well-known words of #b ,peter ii4  #af1 
#8,the dumb ass1 speaking with man's    
voice1 forbad the madness of  the       
prophet4' ,the design was to show that  
some of the most unpopular  novelties in
 scientific opinion bore no necessary   

antagonism to the  deepest mysteries of 
,christian doctrine4 ,in regard to such 
an attempt  it is perhaps needless to   
add that the kindliness of the design   
was not  fully appreciated by those for 
whose benefit it was intended4    #dc   
,as in the inscription #8,jehu1 the son 
of ,omri1' referred to by ,lord  ,a4 ,c4
 ,hervey1 in ,smith's ,dict4 of the     
,bible1 ,art4 #8,genealogy4'    #dd     
,smith's ,dictionary of the ,bible1     
,art4 #8,genealogy of ,jesus ,christ1'  
,lord ,a4 ,c4 ,hervey1 referring to ,dr4
 ,mill4 ,compare also ,hengstenberg1    
,genuineness of the ,pentateuch1 vol4   
ii4 p4 #bid1 ,translation1 #ahdg4    #de
 ,sir ,j4 ,lubbock1 #8,prehistoric      
,times1' p4 #ejb1 second edition4    #df
 ,ibid4 p4 #bbc4    #dg ,ibid4 p4 #bcc4 
#dh ,see chapter on ,marriage1 in ,sir  
,j4 ,lubbock's #8,origin of             
,civilization4'    #di ,sir ,j4         
,lubbock1 #8,prehistoric ,times1' p4    
#chj2 ,sir ,c4 ,lyell1  #8,antiquity of 
,man1' p4 #bg4    #ej ,lyell1           

#8,elements of ,geology1' p4 #aah1 ed4  
#ahfe4    #ea ,messrs4 ,pengelly and    
,vivian1 resident at ,torquay1 acting   
members  of the distinguished committee 
of exploration4    #eb ,see ,reports of 
,british ,association1 #ahfh1 p4 #eg1   
and #ahfi1 p4 #aii1  by ,w4 ,pengelly1  
,esq41 ,f4,r4,s4    #ec ,this is the    
popular name for them4 ,they do not     
petrify the  specimens placed in them1  
but only coat them with stalagmite4     
#ed ,the resuming process has not yet   
been adopted by the modern  ,fuegians1  
for ,dr4 ,hooker informs us that at the 
extreme south of  ,tierra del ,fuego1   
and in mid-winter1 he has often seen the
 men lying  asleep in their wigwams1    
without a scrap of clothing1 and the    
women  standing naked1 and some with    
children at their breasts1 in the water 
up to their middles gathering limpets   
and other shell fish1 while the  snow   
fell thickly on them and on their       
equally naked babies4'--,sir  ,j4       
,lubbock1 #8,prehistoric ,times1' p4    

#ecb4 ,jerome declares that he had      
himself seen the ,attacotti1 a ,british 
tribe1 eating human flesh4  ,see ,gibbon
 7vol4 iii4 p4 #bgj1 ed4 #ahed71 who in 
several passages  refers to the practice
 among various ,british tribes of going 
naked1  especially in war1 citing       
,appian1 ,ammianus1 and ,giraldus       
,cambrensis  as his authorities for     
,british customs4 ,it will be remembered
 that  ,csar speaks even of the         
,southern ,britons as fighting #8omnibus
 membris  expediti4'    #ee #8,report of
 ,british ,association1 #ahfi1' p4 #bja4
    #ef ,nov4 #ba1 #ahgj4    #eg ,a     
formation later than the ,devonian1 and 
earlier than the ,new ,red  ,sandstone4 
#eh ,revelation x4 #f1 ,authorised      
,version4    #ei ,see ,mr4 ,pengelly's  
paper on the subject in the             
,transactions of the  ,devonshire       
,association for #ahfh4    #fj          
#8,acadian ,geology1' ,dawson1 p4 #chf4 
#fa ,see #8,lecture on ,coal1' by ,w4   
,boyd ,dawkins1 ,esq41 ,m4,a41 ,f4,r4,s4

  ,manchester1 #ahgj4    #fb ,address to
 the ,british ,association1 #ahfh1 p4   
#ff of the ,report4    #fc ,in the      
,collection of ,w4 ,pengelly1 ,esq41    
,f4,r4,s4    #fd ,this and the three    
following letters were originally       
addressed to  the ,editor of the        
,torquay ,directory1 in answer to a     
gentleman who1  in company with large   
multitudes of his fellow-,britons1 both 
male and  female1 holds and upon        
occasion upholds a mass of opinions on  
,science  and ,religion1 any one of     
which opinions individually may be right
 or  may be wrong1 but which1 when held 
collectively1 seem to my humble         
understanding to be logically           
incoherent4    #fe ,reprinted from      
#8,nature1' ,no4 #cj4    #ff ,reprinted 
from #8,nature1' ,no4 #ef4    #fg       
,applying to these caterpillars ,mr4 ,a 
,murray's recent hypothesis  for        
explaining #8mimicry' by hybridization1 
we should draw the poetical  inference  
that a happy marriage is possible       

between a butterfly and a  rose-bush4   
#fh #8,nature1' ,no4 #ff4    #fi        
#8,genesis of ,species1' p4 #eg1        
quotation 7somewhat obscure as it       
stands7 from the ,north ,british ,review
 for ,june1 #ahfg4    #gj #8,animals and
 ,plants under ,domestication1' vol4 ii4
 p4 #fc4          ,,index4              
,abiogenesis1 note on hypothesis of1    
#abf-acb4      ,addison1 his opinion    
about ,instinct1 #ga2      his          
description of the brood-hen1 #gb2      
his account of a hen with brood of      
ducks1 #gc2      on the insensible      
gradations of species1 #gd4             
,african desert1 geological evidence of1
 #abb4      ,anabas scandens1 its       
climbing powers1 #bh2      ,dr4 ,day's  
opinion thereon1 #bh1 note4             
,androcles1 story of1 #hb4      ,animal 
mounds1 of ,wisconsin1 #aje4      ,ants1
 slave-making1 #bi1 #fi2      ,french   
philosopher's account of1 #gc4          
,artificial selection1 part of ,natural 
selection1 #af4        ,baboons1 warfare

 of1 #fi4      ,bacon1 ,lord1 his       
statement about dogs1 #ge4              
,barbarism1 time required for           
development of1 #eg4      ,bees1        
progress of1 in cell-making1 #be2       
their accuracy overrated1 #fi1 #hf4     
,bennett1 ,mr4 ,a4 ,w41 ,mathematical   
test applied by1 #afh2      ,review by1 
#agc4      ,birds' nests1 reasoning     
powers employed in construction of1 #fi1
 #hf2      compared with human          
dwellings1 #gj2      use of human       
manufactures in1 #ga4      ,british     
,association1 exploration of ,kent's    
cavern by1 #aji4      ,britons1 ancient1
 condition of1 #aaa4      ,brookes1     
,henry1 story of a lion quoted from1    
#gf4      ,brutes1 man's treatment of1  
#aa1 #ij2      opinion that ,god is the 
soul of1 #ga2      compared with men1   
#gd2      their moral qualities1 #ge1   
#hh2      their laws and constitutions1 
#gg2      their perceptions and         
emotions1 #hj2      language of         
scripture about1 #hd2      motives of   

pleasure and pain applied to1 #hh2      
children compared with1 #hi4            
,cannibalism1 #eg2      of ,british     
tribes1 #aab4      ,caterpillars1       
resembling twigs1 #agj4      ,chalk1    
continuous formation of1 #aag4          
,civilization1 its dependence on        
language and the art of writing1 #hh4   
,coal-measures1 #aai-aba1 #adj4         
,columbus1 his opinion of the earth's   
spherical form condemned1          #fj1 
#adh4      ,coquand's ,oysters of the   
,chalk1 ,professor ,flower's review     
of1 #ade1 #afe4      ,correlation1 #ag1 
#aff1 #agf4      ,creation1 sudden1 not 
reconcilable with the order of nature1  
#be2      theories of1 compared1 #cb2   
prejudice in favour of its suddenness1  
#fc1 #fd2      ,biblical theory of1     
#abi4      ,creations1 many distinct1   
not warranted by scripture or science1  
#bj1 #aaf1 #ace2      special1 for      
special localities1 untenable1 #ba4     
,danes1 ancient1 food and weapons of1   
#ajd4      ,darwin1 his account of the  

development of his theory1 #d2      his 
calculation about elephants1 #ac2       
allusion to his theory of ,pangenesis1  
#cc2      his explanation of the fauna  
and flora of mountain-tops1 #df2        
his account of slave-making ants1 #fi2  
his treatment of geology1 #acd2      his
 chapter on instinct1 #afc4             
,darwinism1 #c-cc2      obscurely       
anticipated1 #b2      its supporters1   
#c2      prejudice against1 #d1 #aeb2   
its bearing on the seeming imperfection 
of nature1 #bd2      inconsistent with a
 recent universal deluge1 #ca1 #cd4     
,dawkins1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,boyd1 lecture on    
coal by1 #adc4      ,dawson1 ,dr41      
,acadian ,geology1 #abj1 #adj4          
,day1 ,dr41 paper by1 on the ,mud-fish  
and ,anabas scandens1 #bh4              
,denudation1 #adc4      ,deucalion's    
,flood1 argument from rebutted1 #aej4   
,development1 theory of1 by whom        
originated and supported1 #d2           
opinion of its absurdity1 #f2      facts
 and principles necessary to1           

7variation1 #g2        ,inheritance and 
,reversion1 #i2        struggle for     
life1 #aa2        antiquity of the      
globe1 #cj2        freedom of the globe 
from any recent universal catastrophe1  
#ca72      application of1 to human body
 and mind1 #fb1 #ie2      time required 
for1 #abb2      not materially affected 
by hypothesis of spontaneous            
generation1 #abg4      ,ducklings1      
experiment with1 #gc4        ,earth1    
immense age of1 required by ,theory of  
,development1 #cj1 #fg2      proved by  
geology1 #ca1 #ed1 #ajg1 #aba2          
popular impression as to age of1 #ic1   
#aba2      reckoned by millions of      
years1 #abc4      ,egypt1 its monuments1
 #ea2      its chronology1 #ef1 #aja4   
,elephant1 its sagacity1 #c2      its   
rate of breeding1 #ac2      its         
different species1 #df2      its memory1
 #ff2      epithet applied to it by     
,pope1 #gd2      in ,devonshire1 #aab4  
,esquimaux1 their ignorance of          
arithmetic1 #ajc4        ,flint-tools1  

#aji1 #aaa1 #aac4      ,flood1 the      
,noachian1 #cd-fa2      historical      
account of1 #ch2      explanation       
suggested1 #da2      how consistent with
 ,darwinism1 #ej2      traditions of a1 
#eh2      no traces of its universality1
 #ei4      ,food1 its influence on the  
animal and vegetable kingdoms1 #ab2     
in the competition for life1 #bb4       
,fossils1 an evidence of variation1 #bj2
      different in different strata1    
#aaf2      time required for            
vicissitudes of1 #aai2      necessary   
imperfection of1 #acd2      their       
scarcity and abundance1 #ada2           
numerous chances of loss and destruction
 for1 #adf4      ,fuegians1 nakedness   
of1 #aab1 note4        ,galileo1 his    
doctrine of the earth's motion          
condemned1 #fj1 #adh4      ,genesis1    
book of1 its chronology1 #ee4           
#8,genesis of ,species1' by ,mr4        
,mivart1 #agc4      ,geology1 its       
conclusions1 #ca1 #ec2      imperfection
 of its record1 #acc-adf4               

,giraffes1 #agf1 #agi4      ,glacial    
,period1 its effect on distribution of  
species1 #dg4      ,gooseberry1 the big1
 #af4        ,horse1 career of1 in      
,america1 #dh2      its endurance and   
ambition1 #c2      its intelligence1    
#ff2      instance thereof1 #gd2        
its intercourse with man1 #hj4          
,hypotheses1 use of1 #aca4              
,inheritance1 #i2      at different     
periods of life1 #ah4      ,instinct1 of
 bees1 #be2      employment and         
gradations of1 in various animals1 #bh2 
compared with reason1 #fb-ha1 #afd2     
fallacious theory of1 #fg2      ignored 
by ducklings1 #gc2      fancied         
excellence of1 #hf4        ,kent's      
cavern1 #aji-aae4        ,language1 time
 required for variations of1 #eg2       
its influence on mankind1 #gg1 #hg2     
origin of1 #ajc4      ,light1 rapidity  
of1 #ig4      ,limestone1 formation of1 
#aji2      contents of1 #aae2      slow 
formation of1 #aag2      ,devonian1     
older than the ,new ,red ,sandstone1    

#aah4      ,lindley1 ,dr41 his          
experiment with immersed vegetables1    
#adc4      ,linnus1 on the common       
descent of species1 #c4      ,lion1 its 
generosity1 #c2      instance of its    
affection1 #gf2      instance of its    
gratitude1 #hc2      in ,britain1 #aab4 
,locke1 on the reason of brutes1 #gd4   
,lubbock1 ,sir ,john1 #8,prehistoric    
,times1' #ed1 #ajd1 #ajg1 #aab2         
#8,origin of ,civilization1' #ajg4      
,lyell1 ,sir ,charles1 #8,principles of 
,geology1' #c1 #ed2      #8,antiquity of
 ,man1' #ajg2      #8,elements of       
,geology1' #aji4        ,madagascar1 its
 species and genera1 #df4      ,malay1  
compared with the ,papuan by ,mr4       
,wallace1 #di1 #aej4      ,man1 his     
destructiveness1 #aa2      his likeness 
to other animals in blood1 fibre1 and   
skeleton1 #bi2      distribution of his 
varieties1 #dh2      traced back for    
thousands of years1 #ea2      a common  
origin for all families of1 #eb2        
his chief endowments1 #fg2      compared

 as a builder with birds1 #gj2      his 
brain and hairless skin1 #gc2      his  
bodily structure1 #he2      his opinion 
of war1 #hf2      real origin of1       
forgotten1 #ajb4      ,marriage-customs1
 slow change of1 #ajf4      ,marsupials1
 #df2      fossil1 #dg4      ,matlock   
,bath1 formation of stalagmite at1 #aaj1
 #aad4      ,memory1 necessary to       
intelligence1 #ff2      unequal         
distribution of1 #ff4      ,miracles1   
treatment of false ones1 #dj2      of   
the ,old ,testament1 #hc4      ,mivart1 
,st4 ,george1 ,mr41 #8,genesis of       
,species' by1 #agc4      ,mushroom1 time
 required for its growth1 #ee4          
,mygale1 the trap-door spider1 its      
ingenious nest1 #bi4        ,natural    
,selection1 illustrated by artificial   
selection1 #ad2      the slowness of its
 movement1 #ah2      explains the order 
of nature1 and in part its seeming      
disorder1 #bf2      limits of1          
propounded by ,mr4 ,wallace1 #fb4       
,nile1 articles in sediment of1 #ajh4   

,origin of life1 opinions on1 #id4      
,oysters1 memory of1 #ff2      obscure  
politics of1 #gg4        ,palontology1  
,lyell's definition of1 #ace4           
,papuan1 compared with the ,malay1 #di1 
#aej4      ,parfitt1 ,mr41 on ,fossil   
,sponge ,spicules1 #acf1 #aci4          
,pengelly1 ,mr41 on pre-historic man1   
#aje2      exploration of ,kent's cavern
 by1 #aji1 #aaj1 #aac4      ,pigeons1   
subjected to man's selection1 #ad1 #af1 
#ag4      ,plants1 their struggle for   
food1 #ab2      their movements1 #bh4   
,pope1 his epithet for the elephant1    
#gd4        ,reason1 progressive        
development of1 in individual minds1    
#fb1 #fg2      that of men1 one in kind 
with the intelligence of brutes1 #ff1   
#hd2      helps to1 #hf4      ,relative 
terms1 #ig1 #aga4      ,religion1       
development of1 #fd1 #ij4               
,reversion1 #i2      limits artificial  
selection1 #ag4      ,rudimentary       
organs1 #ba4        ,sandstone1 ,new    
,red1 #aah4      ,savages1 question of  

their degeneracy1 #eg2      brain1 skin1
 and voice of1 #gh4      ,science1 not  
antagonistic to ,christian doctrine1    
#hb1 note4      ,scripture1 no warrant  
for distinct creations1 #bj2      does  
not profess to    teach ,natural        
,science1 #ce2      its use of ordinary 
language1 #cf2      its historical      
account of the ,flood1 #ch2             
explanation thereof1 #da2      disregard
 of secondary causes in1 #hc2           
character of genealogies in1 #ii2       
mistaken quotation of1 #abd2            
invidious connection of1 with false     
science1 #aea2      supposed opposition 
between it and ,darwinism1 #aeg4        
,species1 permanence of1 #i2      some  
benefited by change of habitat1 #ba2    
variations of1 how advantageous1 #bg2   
difficulty of collecting all for the    
,ark1 #dc2      distribution of1 #de4   
,spencer1 ,mr4 ,herbert1 his caution    
about embryonic forms1 #ai1 note2       
his accurate phrase1 #8,survival of the 
fittest1' #aed2      his #8,principles  

of ,biology1' #afa4      ,sponges1 not  
to be hurried1 #aag2      range of in   
geology1 #acf2      final cause of1     
#ach4      ,stalagmite1 thickness of in 
,kent's cavern1 #aaj2      time required
 for forming1 #aac2      dates carved   
upon1 #aae4      ,stratification1       
uniform order of1 #aaf1 #abb4           
,struggle for life1 #aa2      great     
fecundity useful to a species in1 #bd4  
,sylvia ,sutoria1 the tailor-bird1 its  
nest1 #bi4        ,tails1 rudimentary1  
in man1 #bb1 #aee4      ,tennyson1      
language of #8the ,brook' in1 #abe4     
,theories1 when to be accepted1 #ah4    
,thought1 time required for1 #fd2       
movement of1 depending on language1 #hg4
      ,time1 immense duration of1       
required by the ,theory of ,natural     
,selection1 #cj1 #fg2      lapse of1    
#ic-abe2      7see ,earth1 age of72     
inexhaustible1 #ih1 #abe4      ,tinire1 
delta of1 #ajg4      ,tyndal1           
,professor1 on #8,the ,minuteness of    
,waves of ,light1' #ig4        ,usher1  

archbishop1 ,bible-chronology of1 #ii1  
#aaj4        ,variability1 #g2          
objection to1 considered1 #abh4         
,vertebrate1 the first1 how originated1 
#aeh2      type of1 supposed to be      
connected with cuttle-fish1 #afa2       
definition of1 investigated1 #afa4      
,vivian1 ,mr41 exploration of ,kent's   
cavern by1 #aji4        ,wallace1 ,mr41 
his originality recognized1 #e2      his
 opinion of the limits of ,natural      
,selection1 #fb2      his exposure of   
fallacious views about ,instinct1 #fg2  
his theory of birds' nests1 #fi2        
his comparison of birds with men as     
builders1 #gj2      his speculation     
about the brain of the savage1 #gh4     
,war1 in the animal and vegetable       
kingdoms1 #ab2      combination of      
baboons for1 #fi2      comparison of man
 and other animals engaged in1 #hf4     
,wasps1 their defensive weapon1 #be2    
materials used by1 #hf4      ,whewell1  
,dr41 his remark on ,scientific         
,phraseology1 #afj4      ,writing1      

invention of1 #ajc4                     
,transcriber's ,notes      ,the cover of
 this e,book was made by the            
,transcriber1 by combining the  original
 ,title ,page and the blank green cover 
provided with the printed  book4 ,the   
result remains in the ,public ,domain4  
,punctuation1 hyphenation1 and spelling 
were made consistent when a  predominant
 preference was found in this book2     
otherwise they were not  changed4       
,simple typographical errors were       
corrected2 occasional unbalanced        
quotation marks remedied4    ,ambiguous 
hyphens at the ends of lines were       
retained4    ,footnotes1 originally at  
the bottoms of pages1 have been         
collected and  repositioned after the   
last chapter of the book1 just before   
the ,index4    ,index not checked for   
proper alphabetization or correct page  
references4    ,page #c3 8,one0 was     
capitalized in 8qualified1 ,one1 without
 doubt04