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leading men of science. He then went on to speak of 

 the present aspect of animated nature, and of the various 

 theories which have been broached to account for the pro- 

 duction of new species, referring more particularly to 

 those of Lamarck, the author of the "Vestiges of Crea- 

 tion," and those of Darwin and Wallace. His observations 

 on the theory, or as he called it the "hypothesis" of nat- 

 ural selection, were illustrated by some very beautiful 

 examples of foreign and indigenous animals, such as birds, 

 insects, etc., and he was aided in this portion of his ad- 

 dress by some beautiful objects from the museum. After 

 explaining the various phenomena which accompany the 

 survival of the fittest forms of life, Mr. Samuelson dealt 

 very freely with the theological aspect of the question, 

 noticing the views of atheists, agnostics and reconciliators. 

 He then reviewed briefly the conceptions of the Deity in 

 relation to nature which have been formed from the ear- 

 liest ages, and read extracts from the works of Darwin 

 and Wallace, to show that they believe implicitly in the 

 supervision and directing agency of an allwise Provi- 

 dence. Kingsley, too, was quoted by him, to show that 

 the anthropomorphic views of the Deity are fading away, 

 and the lecturer concluded with a warm recommendation 

 to his hearers to study nature conscientiously and ear- 

 nestly, as calculated to impart higher and nobler views of 

 the divine nature. 



Thursday, September 18, 1879. 



]Mr. Samuelson gave his second lecture this evening. 

 The subject : — 



The Classification of Animals, 



After briefly recapitulating the chief points in the the- 

 ory of natural selection, he proceeded to show that the 



