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XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 461 
hypothesis or supposition than one of successive 
modification? But if the population of the 
world, in any age, is the result of the gradual — 
modification of the forms which peopled it in the 
preceding age—if that has been the case, it is in- 
telligible enough ; because we may expect that 
the creature that results from the modification of 
an elephantine mammal shall be something like 
an elephant, and the creature which is produced 
by the modification of an armadillo-like mammal 
shall be like an armadillo. Upon that supposition, 
I say, the facts are intelligible ; upon any other, 
that I am aware of, they are not. 
So far, the facts of paleontology are consistent 
with almost any form of the doctrine of progressive 
modification ; they would not be absolutely incon- 
sistent with the wild speculations of De Maillet, 
or with the less objectionable hypothesis of La- 
marck. But Mr. Darwin’s views have one peculiar 
merit; and that is, that they are perfectly con- 
sistent with an array of facts which are utterly in- 
consistent with, and fatal to, any other hypothesis 
of progressive modification which has yet been 
advanced. It is one remarkable peculiarity of 
Mr. Darwin’s hypothesis that it involves no neces- 
sary progression or incessant modification, and 
that it is perfectly consistent with the persistence 
for any length of time of a given primitive stock, 
contemporaneously with its modifications. To 
return to the case of the domestic breeds of 
