10 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [A^ol. vi. 



their origin not in his own works, but in those of certain advo- 

 cates of his general views. 



In truth, the candid reader of Darwin's own works can find 

 little fault with his conceptions of the Creator so far as regards 

 their sincerity, although it is evident that he regards the origin 

 of species as a legitimate subject of scientific enquiry, and ignores, 

 as well he may, the vain attempts to reconcile the conclusions to 

 which he is led with the commonly received interpretation of 

 Scripture. So does the author of the '•' Genesis of Species," who 

 is, however, a professedly devout man, and gives many arguments 

 and quotations, especially in the chapter on " Theology and Evo- 

 lution," to show that neither '' Darwinism " nor any other deriva- 

 tive theory necessarily conflicts in the least degree with the most 

 orthodox relio-ious convictions. 



This leads to the needed correction of another grave miscon- 

 ception — that " Darwinism " is synonymous with '' derivation " 

 or ''evolution," and that either of these terms is equivalent to 

 " transmutation." This idea has not only crept into the book 

 catalogues, where all works upon the origin of species are grouped 

 together under the title " Darwinismus," as if they treated of 

 merely local varieties of the same intellectual epidemic, but it 

 has also caused many who feel that Darwin's particular theory is 

 wrong, to oppose all theories whatsoever involving the derivation 

 of higher forms from lower. 



A sketch of the views which preceded his own is prefixed, by 

 Darwin, to the later editions of his work ; but we have nowhere 

 met with any grouping of these and subsequent theories which 

 exhibits their relative nature. Such a classification we venture 

 to oficr here, admitting the impossibility of more than indicating 

 the salient points of each theory and the names of a few of its 

 more zealous advocates. "We have also thought it best to omit 

 the hypothesis of " acceleration and retardation," * recently pro- 

 posed by Professor Cope, and spoken of by Principal Dawson as, 

 in his view, " the most promising of all." f 



* " The Hypothesis of Evolation." University series. New Haven : 

 C. C. Chatfield & Co. 



t For farther notice of the hypothesis here referred to, see Dr. 

 Dawson's paper on " Modern Ideas of Derivation,'' in the Canadian 

 A^f^wra^^s/; for June, 1869, page 134, and also the American Natural i&V 

 for June, 1870, pp. 230-237, where, in a review of Dr. Dawson's paper, 

 Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, of Boston, refers to an essay by himself " On the 



