312 Darwin and Pangenesis. [ July, 
we are too apt to apply our power and knowledge to selfish pur- 
poses ; and in all probability that, whilst our powers of modifying 
varieties so as to form new species are limited by restricted inform- 
ation and the brief duration of life, those of the Almighty know no 
such bounds. Nature is his handiwork; natural forces are his 
servants; and to Him there is no time, but an eternal “now” for 
the execution of his wise and infinitely varied schemes. 
The author’s illustration of the temple built by human hands 
out of the rough stones of nature, is susceptible of another appli- 
cation besides the one he has given to it. The explanation of the 
mode in which the stones have been selected is not to be found in 
the atoms of which they are constituted, nor on the physical forces 
which have given them their imperfect forms. They have to be 
made perfect for the end designed, by the intelligently guided hand 
of the artizan, and to be raised up into a useful and ornamental 
structure upon the pre-existing plan of the designing architect. 
But whilst we are unable to agree with the author im his 
views as to the first causes of variability, and the operation of 
that mysterious influence which binds us to nature, and both to 
God; and whilst we feel that it is for the interest of scientific 
truth, after which no man seeks more earnestly than the author 
himself, that we should exhibit the fallacy and unhesitatingly ex- 
press our disapproval of the line of argument which he adopts in 
these speculative matters, still we find in the mass of evidence 
already advanced by him, both designedly, with a view to establish 
his theory, and unconsciously in his descriptions of natural phe- 
nomena, such ample proofs of the production of new species by 
modified descent, that we are surprised any thinking person should 
still adhere to a doctrine which has only theological prejudices and 
long-established ignorance to support it. And as to the provisional 
hypothesis of “pangenesis,” it is theoretically and materially con- 
sistent with all else that has been recently ascertained in other 
departments of physical science. Those who have studied natural 
phenomena with the aid of the microscope must have been satisfied 
that what we have been in the habit of calling the lowest forms of 
life are not so in reality ; and coupling the appearances revealed by 
that instrument with the facts disclosed in the animated discussions 
which have from time to time taken place on the so-called “spon- 
taneous generation,” we see in “pangenesis” a probable solution 
of the difficulty. 
But on the other hand, whether these supposed vital atoms vary 
in their constitution, or whether, resembling each other, they have 
yet varied powers of assimilating inorganic substances, is a secret 
which neither the indefatigable and all-observant author, nor any 
one else, can at present decide ; and we must await the perfection 
of our instruments before we are able even to hazard an opinion in 
