ii THE ORIGIN OF MAN. U7 



modification of a man-like ape; or, in the other 

 case, as a ramification of the same primitive stock 

 as those apes. 



At the present moment, but one such process 

 of physical causation has any evidence in its fa- 

 vour; or, in other words, there is but one hypoth- 

 esis regarding the origin of species of animals 

 in general which has any scientific existence 

 — that propounded by Mr. Darwin. For La- 

 marck, sagacious as many of his views were, 

 mingled them with so much that was crude 

 and even absurd, as to neutralize the benefit 

 which his originality might have effected, had he 

 been a more sober and cautious thinker; and though 

 I have heard of the announcement of a formula 

 touching " the ordained continuous becoming of 

 organic forms," it is obvious that it is the first 

 duty of a hypothesis to be intelligible, and that 

 a qua-qua-versal proposition of this kind, which 

 may be read backwards, or forwards, or side- 

 ways, with exactly the same amount of significa- 

 tion, does not really exist, though it may seem to 

 do so. 



At the present moment, therefore, the question 

 of the relation of man to the lower animals re- 

 solves itself, in the end, into the larger question 

 of the tenability, or untenability, of Mr. Darwin's 

 views. But here we enter upon difficult ground, 

 and it behoves us to define our exact position with 

 the greatest care. 



