DARWIN. 185 



advancing forms are far more common. Degra- 

 dation of type is merely the result of withdrawal 

 from the stress of the struggle for existence. 

 Evolution, in a general way, is certainly a fact, 

 whether it be a law of Nature or not, if indeed the 

 two ideas be not identical. A law, as defined by 

 Darwin, is simply the " ascertained sequence of 

 events," and in that sense we can certainly speak 

 of evolution as a law of Nature. But the develop- 

 ment of the theory of evolution belongs rather to 

 the domain of metaphysics, and with the meta- 

 physicians I may leave it. There is such an 

 amount and variety of arrant nonsense now afloat 

 under the name of *' evolution " that one may 

 well hesitate before accepting the designation of 

 ** evolutionist." The name now needs a special 

 definition every time that it is used. The popular 

 mind seems to have reduced it to this: "Evolu- 

 tion is something about man and monkeys which 

 contradicts the Bible," and many of our' self-con- 

 stituted champions of evolution are scarcely more 

 fortunate in their interpretations of the term. 



Darwin's work might have gone on, as I have 

 already said, with scarcely a notice from the world 

 outside, had not the question of the origin of man- 

 kind become concerned in the controversy. For 

 the human race is likewise a species, and from its 

 physical side it must be discussed with other spe- 

 cies. The study of these relations gave us in 1871 

 the volumes on the " Descent of Man." If we 

 suppose, as we must, that the various forms of 

 lower animals and plants had their origin in pre- 

 existing forms, more or less unlike them, we may 



