OF NEW SOUTH WALKS. 391 



impatience of opposition, which was not common twenty years 

 ago, and which is mainly due to the discussion of such subjects 

 as those to which I refer. And though hard words are said to 

 break no bones, they may nevertheless cause serious internal 

 injury to science. The 'dry light' by which we ought to work 

 is apt to be so tinged by the fire of passion and self-assertion, 

 kindled in these encounters, that no object can be viewed in its 

 true colour or proportion. This polemical spirit, however, has a.t 

 least effected a great concentration of observation and thought 

 upon the important and allied branches of Embryology and Pake- 

 ontology. What the precise nature of their alliance may be we 

 have at present no positive grounds to determine ; but that there 

 is some connection between the two sets of phenomena thus 

 investigated is certain. It is to be observed that the gaps in the 

 geological record, which are plausibly accounted for, are balanced 

 by leaps in the developement of the individual organism, of 

 which no explanation, as far as I am aware, has as yet been 

 attempted. Continuity of Creation in some way or other seems 

 to be clearly indicated. But the exact mode of operation is 

 invisible, and, as I believe, inconceivable. The theory of Evolution 

 by Mechanical or Chemical causes only, advocated so hotly, and, 

 I must say, so intemperately, by Haeckel, is quite distinct from 

 the far more cautious and limited propositions of Darwin ; but 

 there are not wanting signs that Haeckelism is already beginning 

 to devour its own parent. At least one observes that the language 

 and tone of the former author are far more generally imitated, 

 especially by those persons who style themselves Scientists, than 

 the dispassionate and laborious logic of his master. 



Closely allied to these inquiries is the question of Spontaneous 

 Generation. The burden of proof here evidently lies upon the 

 shoulders of those who maintain this hypothesis, inasmuch as all 

 experiment, as well as all experience, tends to support, with daily 

 increasing energy and weight, the now venerable maxim " Omne 

 vivum ex vivo. Few besides fanatical evolutionists will venture 

 to join Haeckel in his assertion that the other supposition of 

 Autogeny, as he calls it, must of necessity be regarded as true, 



