428 Rev. S. Haughton on the Origin of Species. 



such as maximum resistance to fluid pressure, &c., necessarily 

 reside in the bee's cell because they are the inherent properties 

 of the rhombic dodecahedron, which is the form affected by that 

 cell. The true cause of that shape is the crowding together of 

 the bees at work, jostling and elbowing each other, as was first 

 shown by Buffon. From this crowding together, they cannot 

 help making cells with the dihedral angles of 120° of the 

 rhombic dodecahedron ; and the economy of wax has nothing 

 to do with the origin of the cell, but is a geometrical property 

 of the figure named. 



III. The most serious logical blunder committed by all who 

 invent a theory of life from the geological succession is, that 

 Succession implies causation. It is agreed that the Palaeozoic 

 Cephalopoda produced, in some way or other, the Red Sandstone 

 fishes ; that these in turn gave birth to the Liassic reptiles ; 

 that the non-placental mammals of the Upper Oolite grew after 

 some fashion, and ultimately produced the Tertiary mammals, 

 some of which, in an unhappy hour, gave birth to man. The 

 only fact at the basis of this astonishing inverted cone of 

 reasoning is, that these creatures did succeed each other in the 

 manner described; and from this, forsooth, it follows (post hoc, 

 ergo propter hoc) that they succeeded each other in the way of 

 cause and effect. I propose to test this strange theory by a cor- 

 responding theory of the mineralogical succession of igneous 

 rocks, which opens up a fertile field of speculation, hitherto un- 

 wrought. The igneous rocks of the Palaeozoic period contain 

 abundance of felspar, whose principal constituent is potash ; the 

 Mesozoic igneous rocks abound in soda, replacing potash ; and 

 in the Tertiary period, soda itself gives way to lime and magnesia. 

 Viewed in the light of the Lamarckian philosophy, here is a 

 distinct indication that soda and lime are only allotropic condi- 

 tions of potash. We may read the history of their formation in 

 the crust of the globe, if we will only open our eyes and see it 

 written. I may add, by the way, that this theory of the origin 

 of lime is more intelligible than that of many geologists, who 

 would attribute the greater accumulations of calcareous rocks in 

 secondary and tertiary strata to the creation of lime by organic 

 force. 



If any chemist or mineralogist were to put forward such a 

 geological theory of the origin of soda and lime as the fore- 

 going, he would be regarded as a lunatic by other chemists and 

 mineralogists. 



How does it happen that a theory of the origin of species, 

 which rests on the same basis, is accepted by multitudes [?] of 

 naturalists as if it were a new gospel ? I believe it is because 

 our naturalists, as a class, are untrained in the use of the logical 



