Wallace • The Debt of Science to Darwin 



271 



to the present day a large proportion of 

 naturalists are fullv occupied with this 

 labour of describing new species and 

 new genera, and in classifying them 

 according to the improved and more 

 natural systems which have been gradu- 

 ally introduced. 



But another body of students have 

 alwa^■s been dissatisfied with this super- 

 ficial mode of studying externals only, 

 and have devoted themselves to a 

 minute examination of the internal 

 structure of animals and plants, and 

 earlv in this century the great Cuvier 

 showed how this knowledge of anat- 

 omv could be applied to the classifica- 

 tion of animals in a far more natural 

 manner than by the easier method of 

 Linnaeus. 



Down to the middle of the present 

 centun' the stud\' of nature advanced 

 with giant strides, while the vastness 

 and complexitv of the subject led to a 

 constanth" increasing specialization and 

 division of labour among naturalists, 

 the result being that each group of in- 

 quirers came to look upon his own de- 

 partment as more or less independent 

 of all the others, each seemed to think 

 that any addition to his body of facts 

 was an end in itself, and that any bear- 

 ing these facts might have on other 

 branches of the studv was an alto- 

 gether subordinate and unimportant 

 matter. For while there was much talk 

 of the "unity of nature," a dogma per- 

 vaded the whole scientific world which 

 rendered hopeless any attempt to dis- 

 cover this supposed unitv amid the end- 

 less diversity of organic forms and 

 structures. This dogma was that of the 

 original diversity and permanent sta- 

 bility of species. Although the doctrine 

 of the special and independent creation 

 of every species that now exists or ever 

 has existed on the globe was known to 

 involve difficulties and contradictions 

 of the most serious nature, although 

 it was seen that manv of the facts re- 

 vealed by comparative anatomy, by 



embr}olog\', by geographic distribu- 

 tion, and by geological succession were 

 utterly unmeaning and even mislead- 

 ing, in view of it, yet, down to the 

 period we have named, it may be fairly 

 stated that nine-tenths of the students 

 of nature unhesitatingly accepted it as 

 literallv true. Holding such views of 

 the absolute independence of each 

 species, it almost necessarily followed 

 that the onlv aspect of nature of which 

 we could hope to acquire complete and 

 satisfactory' knowledge was that which 

 regarded the species itself. This we 

 could describe in the minutest detail. 

 But, as soon as we attempted to find 

 out the relations of distinct species to 

 each other, we embarked on a sea of 

 speculation. We could, indeed, state 

 how one species differed from another 

 species in everv particular of which we 

 had knowledge, but we could draw no 

 sound inferences as to the reason or 

 cause of such differences or resem- 

 blances, except by claiming to know 

 the ver)' object and meaning of the 

 Creator in producing such diversity. 



The majority of naturalists openly 

 declared that their sole business was to 

 accumulate facts. Year after year passed 

 away, adding its quota to the vast mass 

 of undigested facts which were accumu- 

 lating in even,' branch of science. And 

 thus, perhaps we might have gone on to 

 this day ever accumulating fresh masses 

 of facts, while each set of workers be- 

 came ever more and more occupied in 

 their own departments of study, and, 

 for want of any intelligible theory to 

 connect and harmonise the whole, less 

 and less able to appreciate the labours 

 of their colleagues, had not Charles 

 Danvin made his memorable voyage 

 round the world. Others have added 

 greatly to our knowledge of details; he 

 has given us new conceptions of the 

 world of life, and a theor\' which is itself 

 a powerful instrument of research; has 

 shown us how to combine into one 

 consistent whole the facts accumulated 



