462 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



But, iodeed, so far as Mr. Darwin jnits forth a theory at all, it is 

 not that natural selection is the cause of species ; but that slight acci- 

 dental variations occur from some unknown or inexj)licable cause ; 

 and that by natural selection the fittest of these will survive. 



There is not so much difference after all between the two so-called 

 theories as it is common to believe ; the inexj^licable accident brings 

 them together at last. It is only the using of different words for the 

 same notion. Variation, by slight accidental degrees, is quite as un- 

 philosophical as the production of species, by decided saltus or springs, 

 from some innate miraculous cause. Suppose, then, we drojo the ques- 

 tion of the origin of species and the cause of variation, and try to 

 observe and understand the different stages of the growth and evolu- 

 tion of such living creatures as the earth i^ filled with, whether fittest 

 or unfittest: would not this be much more consistent with the vocation 

 of science ? In itself it will be a delight, whether it solves any thing or 

 not. 



Assuming matter and its law or properties — and remember, again, 

 that W' ithout them it would not be matter — ^how, and by what steps, 

 and stages, and degrees, has it put on the myriad forms of life ? 

 ■ We will not enter into those deeper speculations of philosophy 

 which range everything in unity or duality — which divide Xature into 

 matter and force — or look upon the cosmos as one substance under 

 two aspects, static and dynamic ; and regard matter, in mathematical 

 language, as composed of points in space and time ; or, using purer 

 ontological phrases, as centres of force or motion under the cosmical 

 relations of time and space. Nor is it necessary to draw comparisons 

 between these conceptions. They are but doctrines of method, and for 

 certain purposes one may use either. ISTeither is this the place to dwell 

 upon the forces, their correlation, and their unity ; nor upon the prin- 

 ciples of physics as a science. All this will be assumed as generally 

 understood. 



Matter we have ; now life ! 



Suppose every thing prepared — a home, the earth, fitted to receive 

 the invited guest ; whence the mysterious power, vitality ? The altar 

 is prepared, the wood cleaved, and the sacrifice laid thereon : how was 

 the fire from heaven invoked ? 



Recollect this maxim of even the old scholastic philosophy: that, 

 having matter and form — that is, Xature and its laws — we are not to 

 search outside of these, for we need no other factors to account for all 

 the metamorphoses this basement matter may assume. 



The first appearance of organic life — the stealing of this first 

 fire from heaven — this is the easiest step in the whole process ; easiest, 

 naturally, because nearest to the inorganic kingdom, w^hich is so much 

 less complicated than the organic ; easiest, because, as we advance, 

 the factors which enter into the calculation and bear upon the result 

 become so numerous and obscure that we never can know w^hen we 



