HISTORICAL SKETCH. xi 



my part a preposterous error. In the last edition o; this 

 work I inferred, and the inference still seems to m* per- 

 fectly just, from a passage beginning with the words " no 

 doubt the type-form," etc. (Ibid., vol. i. p. xxxv.), that Pro- 

 fessor Owen admitted that natural selection may have done 

 something in the formation of a new species ; but this it 

 appears (Ibid., vol iii. p. 798) is inaccurate and without evi- 

 dence. I also gave some extracts from a correspondence 

 between Professor Owen and the editor of the "London Re- 

 view," from which it appeared manifest to the editor as 

 well as to myself, that Professor Owen claimed to have pro- 

 mulgated the theory of natural selection before I had done 

 so ; and I expressed my surprise and satisfaction at this 

 announcement; but as far as it is possible to understand 

 certain recently published passages (Ibid., vol. iii. p. 798) I 

 have either partially or wholly again fallen into error. It is 

 consolatory to me that others find Professor Owen ; s contro- 

 versial writings as difficult to understand and to reconcile 

 with each other, as I do. As far as the mere enunciation of 

 the principle of natural selection is concerned, it is quite 

 immaterial whether or not Professor Owen preceded me, for 

 both of us, as shown in this historical sketch, were long ago 

 preceded by Dr. Wells and Mr. Matthews. 



M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, in his lectures delivered 

 in 1850 (of which a resume appeared in the " Revue et Mag. 

 de Zoolog.," Jan., 1851), briefly gives his reason for believing 

 that specific characters " sont fixes, pour chaque espece, tant 

 qu'elle se perpetue au milieu des memes circonstances : ils se 

 modifient, si les circonstances ambiantes viennent a changer." 

 "En resume, V observation des animaux sauvages demontre 

 deja la variability limitee des especes. Les experiences sur 

 les animaux sauvages devenus domestiques, et sur les ani- 

 maux domestiques redevenus sauvages, la d6montrent plus 

 clairement encore. Ces memes experiences prouvent, de 

 plus, que les differences produites peuvent etre de valeur 

 generique." In his " Hist. Nat. Gen6rale " (torn. ii. p. 430, 

 1859) he amplifies analogous conclusions. 



From a circular lately issued it appears that Dr. Freke, in 

 1851 (" Dublin Medical Press," p. 322), propounded the doc- 

 trine that all organic beings have descended from one pri- 

 mordial form. His grounds of belief and treatment of the 

 subject are wholly different from mine ; but as Dr. Freke 

 has now (1861) published his Essay on the " Origin of Spe- 

 cies by means of Organic Affinity," the difficult attempt to 



