128 me. darwin's woek and 



you, as fairly as I can, what is Mr. Darwin's view of the 

 matter and what position his theories hold, when judged 

 by the principles which I have previously laid down as 

 deciding our judgments upon all theories and hypotheses. 

 I have already stated to you that the inquiry respect- 

 ing the causes of the phenomena of organic nature re- 

 solves itself into two problems — the first being the 

 question of the origination of living or organic beings ; 

 and the second being the totally distinct problem of the 

 modification and perpetuation of organic beings when 

 they have already come into existence. The first ques- 

 tion Mr. Darwin does not touch ; he does not deal with 

 it at all ; but he says — given the origin of organic mat- 

 ter — supposing its creation to have already taken place, 

 my object is to show in consequence of what laws and 

 what demonstrable properties of organic matter, and of 

 its environments, such states of organic nature as those 

 with which we are acquainted must have come about. 

 This, you will observe, is a perfectly legitimate propo- 

 sition ; every person has a right to define the limits of 

 the inquiry which he sets before himself ; and yet it is 

 a most singular thine* that in all the multifarious, and 

 not unfrequently, ignorant attacks which have been made 

 upon the " Origin of Species," there is nothing which has 

 been more speciously criticised than this particular limi- 

 tation. If people have nothing else to urge against the 

 book, they say— " "Well, after all, you see Mr. Darwin's 

 explanation of the ' Origin of Species' is not good for 

 much, because, in the long run, he admits that he does 

 not know how organic matter began to exist. But if 

 you admit any special creation for the first particle of 

 organic matter you may just as well admit it for all the 

 rest ; five hundred or five thousand distinct creations 



