1874.] Notices of Books. 231 
as itis; and we read inthe existence of the bend of opipe a page 
of the past history of the town.’ 
To the objection as to the existence of carnivorous animals in 
all ages of the earth’s history, it is well replied that evolution 
shows struggle and death to be absolutely necessary to advance- 
ment and to render possible the eventual birth and perfecting of 
man. It is also very forcibly argued that there are many direct 
marks of beneficence in nature. So far as we know, there was 
no absolute need for life to appear at all on the earth; or, when it 
appeared, for it ever to have advanced beyond the lower forms ; 
or for the distinction of male and female ever to have arisen; 
or for the eye to have the capacity of distinguishing sensations 
of colour as distinct from light and shade; or for the ear to be 
attuned so admirably to vibrations of the atmosphere as to 
render music possible; or for the taste to be capable of delight- 
ing in such an endless variety of savours. When we look at the 
whole range of past and present life upon the globe, what an 
infinite amount of pure enjoyment has been derived from every 
one of these faculties and powers, so that the existence of pain, 
which is the necessary correlative of many of them, counts for 
nothing in the balance. Eventhat endless variety, which seems 
a first principle of the material universe, so absolutely universal 
is it, adds in an incalcuiable degree to our enjoyment. It alone 
enables us to appreciate beauty, and it is almost certain that we 
should receive no pleasure from any of our senses if there were 
not an ever-varying series of objects and properties to excite 
them to various degrees and kinds of action. The conception 
that these almost infinite possibilities of enjoyment have come 
into existence as a necessary result of certain self-existent laws 
of self-existent matter, and have therefore not been in any way 
foreseen or designed by any intelligence, is one which seems too 
improbable to be permanently held by any thinker who will care- 
fully examine the evidence from this point of view. 
The last chapter—on the Moral Aspects of Evolution—is very 
well written, and deserves careful consideration. We have only 
space to notice what is termed the origin of moral species. The 
world has ever persecuted its reformers and put its prophets to 
death. The best, the wisest, and the most unselfish men have 
often left no posterity to inherit their good qualities. How, then, 
has the world advanced morally and intellectually? Mr. St. Clair 
imputes it to the generative action of mind upon mind, a more 
powerful agent in spreading truth and goodness than hereditary 
transmission. Each great mind acts upon all those which are 
somewhat lower than itself, and tends to raise them to its own 
level. ‘‘The man in whom the higher truth or higher virtue is 
first found may be said to constitute a new moral ‘ species’ or 
‘variety.. The men who are nearest to him in the points 
in which he is distinguished are the species from which he 
probably has sprung, and being nearest to kim would require 
