THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 583 



Amongst those who do believe in the existence of 

 internal causes of organization, quite different opinions 

 are expressed by different writers as to their imme- 

 diate origin or nature. Some, amongst whom we may 

 name Dr. Erasmus Darwin^ and the author of the 

 ^ Vestiges of Creation,' believed that such a principle 

 had been specially implanted by a Great First Cause 

 in a few first created forms, which, by virtue of this 

 power, have sufficed during successive generations, and 

 in the long lapse of ages, to engender all the forms of 

 life that have ever appeared upon the surface of the 

 earth. Prof. Owen 2 and Mr. St. George Mivart -^ 

 have expressed the belief that a continuous origina- 

 tion of living matter has been ever taking place, and 

 that this has been undergoing development in obe- 

 dience to internal tendencies^ which work, however, 

 in certain preordained modes, with the view (amongst 

 many others) of preparing for the ultimate appearance 

 of Man'*. But whilst Prof. Owen seems to think 

 that the working out of these inherent tendencies may 



^ ' Zoonomia,' vol. i. pp. 500-510. 1794. 



2 ' Anatomy of the Vertebrates,' vol. iii. 1867. 



2 ' Genesis of Species,' 2nd ed., 1872. 



* This innate capacity or power of undergoing change, whatever forms 

 it may tend to evolve, is recognized by Prof. Owen as being part of a 

 ' defined and pre-ordained course.' And he says (loc. cit., p. 808) : — ' A 

 purposive route of development and change, of correlation and inter- 

 dependence, manifesting intelligent Will, is as determinable in the suc- 

 cession of races as in the development and organization of the individual. 

 Generations do not vary accidentally in any and every direction, but in 

 pre-ordained, definite, and correlated courses.' 



