RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION 441 



srhich is almost implied by reproduction ; Variability, 

 from the indirect and direct action of the external 

 conditions of life, and from use and disuse ; a Ratio of 

 Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a 

 consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence 

 of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. 

 Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, 

 the most exalted object which we are capable of con- 

 ceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, 

 directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, 

 with its several powers, having been originally breathed 

 by the Creator into a few forms or into one ; and that, 

 whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the 

 fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endlc 

 forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, 

 and are being, evolved. 



