wr CRITICISMS ON “THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES” 93 
stripes of dun horses, and the teeth of the foetal 
Balena, are not explained by the “existence of 
general laws of Nature.” Mr. Darwin endeavours 
to explain the exact order of organic nature 
‘which exists; not the mere fact that there is 
some order. | 
And with regard to the existence of a natural 
system of minerals; the obvious reply is that 
there may be a natural classification of any 
objects—of stones on a sea-beach, or of works of 
art; a natural classification being simply an 
assemblage of objects in groups, so as to express 
their most important and fundamental resem- 
blances and differences. No doubt Mr. Darwin 
believes that those resemblances and differences 
upon which our natural systems or classifications 
of animals and plants are based, are resemblances 
and differences which have been produced gene- 
tically, but we can discover no reason for suppos- 
ing that he denies the existence of natural classi- 
fications of other kinds. 
And, after all, is it quite so certain that a 
genetic relation may not underlie the classification 
of minerals? The inorganic world has not always 
been what we see it. It has certainly had its 
metamorphoses, and, very probably, a long 
“Entwickelungsgeschichte” out of a nebular 
blastema. Who knows how far that amount of 
likeness among sets of minerals, in virtue of which 
they are now grouped into families and orders, 
