120 Sketch of the Life of Mr. David Douglas, 



in nature specific force and causes of variation constitute antago- 

 nist powers, acting and reacting on each other, and thus produc- 

 ing an equilibrium which is disturbed only by the artificial contri- 

 vance of man. We are quite certain that the belief of naturalists 

 in these great doctrines will eventually be confirmed by Mr. Dar- 

 win's book, and that his failure, with all the immense mass of 

 facts at his disposal, to maintain the theory of transmutation, will 

 give an eternal quietus to the Lamarckian hypothesis ; though we 

 shall be quite prepared to find that for a time it may gain a wide 

 acceptance with young naturalists, and with those who are willing 

 to adopt any amount of error rather than appear not to be on 

 a level with the latest scientific novelties. For this signal 

 service to science we sincerely thank him, though we are sorry 

 that it has been rendered by a man whose sincerity and honesty 

 of purpose all who know him respect and love, and to whom 

 .natural science is under so many eminent obligations. 



Since writinir the above, we have seen able reviews of Mr. Dar- 

 win's work by Prof. Gray and Prof. Huxley. Both naturalists 

 dissent from his ultimate conclusions as not satisfactorily proved,, 

 though neither, in our view, insists sufficiently on the fundamen- 

 tal unsoundness of the argument. 



J. W. D. 



ARTICLE ^.—Abridged Sketch of the life of 3Ir. David 

 Douglas, Botanist, with a few details of his travels and 

 discoveries. 



The inducement for collecting the few scattered fragments that 

 are to be found in the following pages, is the desire to prolong 

 somewhat, the public remembrance of one who was warmly at- 

 tached to Natural History, and who also in his own short day^ 

 largely contributed by his enterprise and unwearied spirit of re- 

 search, to swell the list of novelties in some of its principal de- 

 partments. Cut down in the prime of life, and in the midst of 

 his usefulness, his memory is still fondly cherished by his friends, 

 and his successful exertions in his sphere of labour have pro- 

 cured him among botanists, an undying fame. Had he lived, he 

 would have attained to the highest celebrity as a traveller, for 

 his diligence in investigating, and accuracy in observing, would" 

 have tended to elucidate much that is of ereat interest in the? 

 physical geography of the earth. 



