Introductory. 2 1 



miraculously created units of organic nature. Now, 

 all that I have at present to remark is, that this 

 pre-Darwinian exception which was made in favour 

 of species to the otherwise recognised principle of 

 gradual change, was an exception which can at no 

 time have been recommended by any antecedent 

 considerations. At all times it stood out of analogy 

 with the principle of continuity ; and, as we shall fully 

 find in subsequent chapters, it is now directly con- 

 tradicted by all the facts of biological science. 



There remains one other fact of high generality to 

 which prominent attention should be drawn from the 

 present, or merely antecedent, point of view. On 

 the theory of special creation no reason can be 

 assigned why distinct specific types should present 

 any correlation, either in time or in space, with their 

 nearest allies ; for there is evidently no conceivable 

 reason why any given species, A, should have been 

 specially created on the same area and at about the 

 same time as its nearest representative, B, still less, 

 of course, that such should be a general rule through- 

 out all the thousands and millions of species which 

 have ever inhabited the earth. But, equally of course, 

 on the theory of a natural evolution this is so necessary 

 a consequence, that if no correlation of such a two-fold 

 kind were observable, the theory would be negatived. 

 Thus the question whether there be any indication 

 of such a two-fold correlation may be regarded as 

 a test-question as between the two theories ; for 

 although the vast majority of extinct species have 

 been lost to science, there are a countless number 

 of existing species which furnish ample material for 

 answering the question. And the answer is so un- 



