( Ixxxvlii ) 



In leaving the dogma of " special creation," and the assump- 

 tion of " fixity of species " with which it is bound up, it is 

 only right to point out how completely the logical foundations 

 of both were undermined by the great thinker who has just 

 passed away. Years before the appearance of the Darwin- 

 Wallace essay, and of the " Origin," Herbert Spencer wrote 

 on " The Development Hypothesis." * Although of course 

 wanting the great motive power to evolution supplied by 

 naturgil selection, this essay is a powerful and convincing 

 argument for evolution as against special creation. It is 

 astonishing that it did not produce more effect. I may appro- 

 priately conclude this section of the Address by quoting the 

 results of Herbert Spencer's critical examination, from every 

 point of view, of the Linnean conception of species. 'Thus, 

 however regarded, the hypothesis of special creations turns 

 out to be worthless — worthless by its derivation ; worthless in 

 its intrinsic incoherence ; worthless as absolutely without 

 evidence ; worthless as not supplying an intellectual need ; 

 worthless as not satisfying a moral want." t 



If then the Linnean conception of species — separately created 

 and fixed for all time at their creation— has been abandoned, 

 what have we to put in its place ? In a letter to Hooker, Dec. 

 24, 1856, Davwin gave a list of the various definitions he had 

 met with. " I have just been comparing definitions of species, 

 and stating briefly how systematic naturalists work out their 

 subjects. ... It is really laughable to see what different 

 ideas are prominent in various naturalists' minds when they 

 speak of ' species ' ; in some, resemblance is everything, and 

 descent of little weight — in some, resemblance seems to go 

 for nothing, and creation the reigning idea — in some, descent 

 is the key — in some, sterility an unfailing test, with others it 

 is not worth a farthing. It all comes, I believe, from trying 

 to define the indefinable." X 



As regards the work done by the systematist, we find that 

 Darwin did not agree with those of his friends who thought 



* In the Leader, between January 1852 and May 1854, reprinted in 

 "Essays Scientific, Political, and Speculative." London, 1868, vol. i, 

 p. 377. 



t "The Piinciples of Biology." London, 1864, vol. i, p. 345. 



X "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" London, 1887, vol. ii, 

 p. 88. 



