22 



PART II 1 . 



IV. & V. (ON THE EVIDENCE FROM GEOLOGY.) 



I may premise, that according to the view 

 ordinarily received, the myriads of organisms 

 peopling this world have been created by so many 

 distinct acts of creation. As we know nothing of 

 the (illegible) will of a Creator, we can see no reason 

 why there should exist any relation between the 

 organisms thus created; or again, they might be 

 created according to any scheme. But it would 

 be marvellous if this scheme should be the same as 

 would result from the descent of groups of organisms 

 from [certain] the same parents, according to the 

 circumstances, just attempted to be developed. 



With equal probability did old cosmogonists say 

 fossils were created, as we now see them, with a false 

 resemblance to living beings 2 ; what would the As- 

 tronomer say to the doctrine that the planets moved 

 (not) according to the law of gravitation, but from 

 the Creator having willed each separate planet to 

 move in its particular orbit ? I believe such a pro- 

 position (if we remove all prejudices) would be as 

 legitimate as to admit that certain groups of living 

 and extinct organisms, in their distribution, in their 

 structure and in their relations one to another 

 and to external conditions, agreed with the theory 



1 In the original MS. the heading is: Part III.; but Part II. is clearly 

 intended ; for details see the Introduction. I have not been able to 

 discover where IV. ends and v. begins. 



2 This passage corresponds roughly to the conclusion of the Origin, see 

 Ed. i. p. 482, vi. p. 661. 



