II THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 69 



hands of man ; and so little does he dream of 

 there being any other destructive causes at work, 

 that, in discussing the possible existence of fossil 

 shells, he asks, " Pourquoi d'ailleurs seroient-ils 

 perdues des que I'homme n'a pu operer leur 

 destruction ? " (" Phil. Zool.," vol. i. p. 77.) Of 

 the influence of selection Lamarck has as little 

 notion, and he makes no use of the wonderful 

 phenomena which are exhibited by domesticated 

 animals, and illustrate its powers. The vast 

 influence of Cuvier was employed against the 

 Lamarckian views, and, as the untenability of 

 some of his conclusions was easily shown, his 

 doctrines sank under the opprobrium of scientific, 

 as well as of theological, heterodoxy. Nor have 

 the efforts made of late years to revive them 

 tended to re-establish their credit in the minds of 

 sound thinkers acquainted with the facts of the 

 case ; indeed it may be doubted whether Lamarck 

 has not suffered more from his friends than from 

 his foes. 



Two years ago, in fact, though we venture to 

 question if even the strongest supporters of the 

 special creation hypothesis had not, now and then, 

 an uneasy consciousness that all was not right, 

 their position seemed more impregnable than ever, 

 if not by its own inherent strength, at any rate by 

 the obvious failure of all the attempts which had 

 been made to carry it. On the other hand, how- 

 ever much the few, who thought deeply on the 



