NATURAL SELECTION, ETC. 127 



probable, that this gradation, as it has its natural 

 ground, may yet have its scientific explanation. In 

 any case, there is no need to deny that the general 

 facts correspond well with an hypothesis like Dar- 

 win's, which is built upon fine gradations. 



We have contemplated quite long enough the gen- 

 eral presumptions in favor of an hypothesis of the 

 derivation of species. We cannot forget, however, 

 while for the moment we overlook, the formidable diffi- 

 culties which all hypotheses of this class have to en- 

 counter, and the serious implications which they seem 

 to involve. We feel, moreover, that Darwin's par- 

 ticular hypothesis is exposed to some special objections. 

 It requires no small strength of nerve steadily to con- 

 ceive, not only of the diversification, but of the forma- 

 tion of the organs of an animal through cumulative 

 variation and natural selection. Think of such an 

 organ as the eye, that most perfect of optical instru- 

 ments, as so produced in the lower animals and per- 

 fected in the higher ! A friend of ours, who accepts 

 the new doctrine, confesses that for a long while a 

 cold chill came over him whenever he thought of the 

 eye. He has at length got over that stage of the 

 complaint, and is now in the fever of belief, perchance 

 to be succeeded by the sweating stage, during which 

 sundry peccant humors may be eliminated from the 

 system. For ourselves, we dread the chill, and have 

 some misgiving about the consequences of the reac- 

 tion. We find ourselves in the " singular position " ac- 

 knowledged by Pictet — that is, confronted with a the- 

 ory which, although it can really explain much, seems 

 inadequate to the heavy task it so boldly assumes, but 



