DARWIN AND HAECKEL. 593 



great conception, which had dawned upon the minds of the patriarchs 

 of philosophy which had been embalmed in the immortal poem of 

 Lucretius which had been submerged, but not drowned, in the mud- 

 dy deluge of Hebrew mythology and schoolmen's philosophy (miscalled 

 Christianity) in the middle ages and had struggled to the surface, 

 much besmirched, by Lamarck's help at length stood upon a firm dry 

 quay, built by Darwin's hand, and made water-tight by a goodly con- 

 tribution of Wallace's cement. 



For the first time in history, sound scientific reasonings the force 

 of which has increased with every year of the fifteen which have 

 elapsed introduced such conclusions as the following : 



" I believe that animals have descended from at most only four or five pro- 

 genitors" (" Origin of Species," first edition, p. 484). 



" I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which 

 have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form " 

 (Ibid., p. 484). 



"In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. 

 Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquire- 

 ment of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown 

 upon the origin of man and his history " (Ibid., p. 488). 



"... I view all beings, not as special creations, but as the lineal descend- 

 ants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Silurian sys- 

 tem was deposited. ..." (Ibid., pp. 488, 489). 



" As all the living forms of life are the lineal descendants of those which 

 lived long before the Silurian epoch. ..." (Ibid., p. 489). 



" There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having 

 been originally breathed into a few forms or into one" (Ibid., p. 490). 



There is no uncertain utterance here. There has been no special 

 creation. All beings which now live are descended from primordial 

 forms which existed before the oldest fossiliferous rocks were depos- 

 ited. Man is no exception, but he and his highest faculties are as 

 much products of evolution as the humblest plant, or the lowest 

 worm. 



A more clear and bold statement of the scope and tendencies of 

 the doctrine advocated by Mr. Darwin could not have been put into 

 words ; and those who recollect the somewhat fiery controversies 

 which were carried on, during the years which immediately followed 

 1859, need not be reminded that the cheval de bataille of the oppo- 

 nents of Darwinism was, to hold up to scorn and ridicule the applica- 

 tion of his views to man, so distinctly indicated by the author of the 

 theory when it was promulgated. 



It seems almost absurd to produce evidence of what is so notorious. 

 Yet it happens to be worth while to quote an article which appeared 

 in the Quarterly Review for July, 1860. It is a production which 

 should be bound up in good stout calf, or better, asses' skin, if such 

 material is to be had, by the curious book-collector, together with 



VOL. vi. 38 



