EDITOR'S TABLE. 



2 39 



tnre. The stream of generations flows 

 on by this process, which is as much a 

 part of the settled, continuous economy 

 of the world as the steady action of 

 gravity or heat. It is demonstrated that 

 living forms are liable to variations 

 which accumulate through inheritance ; 

 that the ratio of multiplication in the 

 living world is out of all proportion to 

 the means of subsistence, so that only 

 comparatively few germs mature, while 

 myriads are destroyed ; that, in the 

 struggles of life, the fittest to the con- 

 ditions survive, and those least adapted 

 perish. It is a demonstrated fact that 

 life has existed on the globe during 

 periods of time so vast as to be incal- 

 culable ; that there has been an order 

 in its succession by which the lowest 

 appeared first, and the highest have 

 come last, while the intermediate forms 

 disclose a rising gradation. It is a de- 

 monstrated truth of Nature that matter 

 is indestructible, and that therefore all 

 the material changes and transforma- 

 tions of the world consist in using over 

 and over the. same stock of materials, 

 new forms being perpetually derived 

 from old ones; and it is a fact now 

 also held to be established, that force 

 obeys the same laws. All these great 

 truths harmonize with each other ; they 

 agree with all we know of the constitu- 

 tion of Nature; and they demonstrate 

 evolution as a fact, and go far toward 

 opening to us the secondary question 

 of its method. 



The reverend writer, whom we have 

 quoted, asks, " If evolution rests on a 

 basis as sure as astronomy, why do we 

 not see one species passing into another 

 now, even as we see the motions of the 

 planets through the heavens ? " To this 

 foolish question, which has neverthe- 

 less been asked a dozen times by cleri- 

 cal critics of Huxley, the obvious an- 

 swer is, that what requires a very long 

 time to produce cannot be seen in a 

 very short time. Has the writer ever 

 seen the production of a geological for- 

 mation ? That he has not seen the evi- 



dences that would have prevented him 

 from asking such a question is prob- 

 ably because he is not a student of 

 Nature, and has not looked for them. 



There has been much complaint 

 that Prof. Huxley undertook to put the 

 demonstrative evidence of evolution on 

 so narrow a basis as the establishment 

 of the genealogy of the horse, but this 

 rather enhances than detracts from his 

 merit as a scientific thinker. It has 

 been well remarked that "the genius 

 of the discoverer appears in his per- 

 ceiving how small a number of facts, 

 rightly considered, are sufficient to form 

 a foundation for a theory." Kepler 

 had to fix but a few points in the path 

 of Mars, to demonstrate the ellipticity 

 of his orbit, and to subvert the theory 

 of circular planetary motions, by which 

 the way was paved to the Newtonian 

 astronomy. Prof. Huxley could have 

 accumulated a far more striking dis- 

 play of the proofs of evolution for a 

 popular audience, but he preferred to 

 rest the question on evidence that was 

 none the less decisive because it was 

 restricted. If the horse has been de- 

 rived from preceding forms in the way 

 he pointed out, then that is the method 

 of Nature unless we deny the unity 

 of its order. 



And here is the vital point between 

 Prof. Huxley and his antagonists. It 

 is a question of the validity of the con- 

 ception of the order and uniformity of 

 Nature. Prof. Huxley holds to it as a 

 first principle, a truth demonstrated by 

 all science, and just as fixed in biology 

 as in astronomy. His antagonists hold 

 that the inflexible order of Nature may 

 be asserted perhaps in astronomy, but 

 they deny it in biology. They here in- 

 voke supernatural intervention. Obvi- 

 ously there are but two hypotheses upon 

 the subject, that of the genetic derivation 

 of existing species, through the opera- 

 tion of natural law, and that of creation 

 by miraculous interference with the 

 course of Nature. If we assume the 

 orderly course of Nature, development 



