THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' 1 99 



plexity of organic nature, there are multitudes of phenomena 

 which are not deducible from any generalisations we have yet 

 reached. But the same may be said of every other class of 

 natural objects. I believe that astronomers cannot yet get 

 the moon's motions into perfect accordance with the theory 

 of gravitation. 



It would be inappropriate, even if it were possible, to dis- 

 cuss the difficulties and unresolved problems which have 

 hitherto met the evolutionist, and which will probably continue 

 to puzzle him for many generations to come, in the course of 

 this brief history of the reception of M r. Darwin's great work. 

 But there are two or three objections cf a more general 

 character, based, or supposed to be based, upon philosophical 

 and theological foundations, which were loudly expressed in 

 the early days of the Darwinian controversy, and which, 

 though they have been answered over and over again, crop 

 up now and then at the present day. 



The most singular of these, perhaps immortal, fallacies, 

 which live on, Tithonus-like, when sense and force have long 

 deserted them, is that which charges Mr. Darwin with having 

 attempted to reinstate the old pagan goddess, Chance. It is 

 said that he supposes variations to come about " by chance," 

 and that the fittest survive the " chances " of the stru^crle for 

 existence, and thus "chance" is substituted for providential 

 design- 

 It is not a little wonderful that such an accusation as this 

 should be brought against a writer who has, over and over 

 again, warned his readers that when he uses the word " spon- 

 taneous," he merely means that he is ignorant of the cause of 

 that which is so termed ; and whose whole theory crumbles 

 to pieces if the uniformity and regularity of natural causation 

 for illimitable past ages is denied. But probably the best 

 answer to those who talk of Darwinism meaning the rei^n of 

 " chance," is to ask them what they themselves understand by 



