HI CRITICISMS ON " THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES " 81 



Reader, for February 27th of this year) supporting 

 similar views with all the weight of his special 

 knowledge and established authority as a linguist. 

 Professor Haeckel, to whom Schleicher addresses 

 himself, previously took occasion, in his splendid 

 monograph on the Radiolaria, 1 to express his high 

 appreciation of, and general concordance with, Mr. 

 Darwin's views. 



But the most elaborate criticisms of the " Origin 

 of Species" which have appeared are two works of 

 very widely different merit, the one by Professor 

 Kolliker, the well-known anatomist and histolo- 

 gist of Wiirzburg ; the other by M. Flourens, 

 Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of 

 Sciences. 



Professor Kolliker 's critical essay " Upon the 

 Darwinian Theory " is, like all that proceeds from 

 the pen of that thoughtful and accomplished 

 writer, worthy of the most careful consideration. 

 It comprises a brief but clear sketch of Darwin's 

 views, followed by an enumeration of the leading 

 difficulties in the way of their acceptance ; diffi- 

 culties which would appear to be insurmountable 

 to Professor Kolliker, inasmuch as he proposes to 

 replace Mr. Darwin's Theory by one which he 

 terms the " Theory of Heterogeneous Generation." 

 We shall proceed to consider first the destructive, 

 and secondly, the constructive portion of the 

 essay. 



1 Die Radiolarien : eine Monographic, p. 231. 



