I THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 25 
4) 
‘science, and having spent many years in gathering 
and sifting materials for his present work, the 
store of accurately registered facts upon which the 
author of the “ Origin of Species” is able to draw 
at will is prodigious. 
’ But this very superabundance of matter must 
have been embarrassing to a writer who, for the 
present, can only put forward an abstract of his 
views; and thence it arises, perhaps, that notwith- 
standing the clearness of the style, those who 
attempt fairly to digest the book find much of it 
a sort of intellectual pemmican—a mass _ of facts 
erushed_and pounded into shape, rather than held 
together by the ordinary medium of an obvious 
logical bond ; due attention will, without doubt, 
discover this bond, but it is often hard to find. 
~~ Again, from sheer want of room, much has to 
be taken for granted which might readily enough 
be proved ; and hence, while the adept, who can 
supply the missing links in the evidence from his 
own knowledge, discovers fresh proof of the singu- | 
lar thoroughness with which all difficulties have 
been considered and all unjustifiable suppositions — 
avoided, at every reperusal of Mr. Darwin’s preg- | 
nant paragraphs, the novice in biology is apt to | 
complain of the frequency of what he fancies is — 
gratuitous assumption. 
Thus while it may be doubted if, for some years, 
any one is likely to be competent to pronounce 
judgment on all the issues raised by Mr. Darwin, 
