246 BARWINIANA. 



more than less amenable to the criticisms we may be 

 disposed to make upon it. 2. That the author is thor- 

 oughly convinced that no species or form deserving 

 the name was ever derived from another, or originated 

 from natural causes ; and he maintains this doctrine 

 with earnestness, much variety of argument and illus- 

 tration, and no small ability ; so that he may be taken 

 as a representative of the view exactly opposed to that 

 which is favored by those naturalists whose essays we 

 have been considering — to whom, indeed, he stands in 

 marked contrast in spirit and method, being greatly 

 disposed to argue the question from the remote rather 

 than the near end. 3. And finally, he has a convic- 

 tion that the evolutionary doctrines of the day are 

 not only untrue, but thoroughly bad and irreligious. 

 This belief, and the natural anxiety with which he con- 

 templates their prevalence, may excuse a certain vehe- 

 mence and looseness of statement which were better 

 avoided, as where the geologists of the day are said to 

 be " broken up into bands of specialists, little better 

 than scientific banditti, liable to be beaten in detail, 

 and prone to commit outrages on common-sense and 

 good taste which bring their otherwise good cause into 

 disrepute ; " and where he despairingly suggests that 

 the prevalence of the doctrines he deprecates " seems 

 to indicate that the accumulated facts of our age have 

 gone altogether beyond its capacity for generalization, 

 and, but for the vigor which one sees everywhere, 

 mi^ht be taken as an indication that the human mind 

 has fallen into a state of senility." 



This is droll reading, when one considers that the 

 " evolutionist" is the onlv sort of naturalist who has 



