CHARLES DARWIN: A SKETCH. 287 



gel's ideas as far from fantastic. Yet, instead of 

 taking the single forward step which now seems so 

 obvious, he even hazarded the conjecture that the 

 insect-forms of some orchideous flowers are intended 

 to deter rather than to attract insects. And so the 

 explanation of all these and other extraordinary struct- 

 ures, as well as of the arrangement of blossoms in 

 general, and even the very meaning and need of sex- 

 ual propagation, were left to be supplied by Mr. Dar- 

 win. The aphorism " Nature abhors a vacuum " is a 

 characteristic specimen of the science of the middle 

 ages. The aphorism "Nature abhors close fertiliza- 

 tion," and the demonstration of the principle, belong 

 to our age, and to Mr. Darwin. To have originated 

 this, and also the principle of natural selection — the 

 truthfulness and importance of which are evident the 

 moment it is apprehended — and to have applied these 

 principles to the system of Nature in such a manner 

 as to make, within a dozen years, a deeper impression 

 upon natural history than has been made since Lin- 

 naeus, is ample title for one man's fame. 



There is no need of our giving any account or of 

 estimating the importance of such works as the " Ori- 

 gin of Species by means of Natural Selection," the 

 " Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestica- 

 tion," the " Descent of Man, and Selection in relation 

 to Sex," and the " Expression of the Emotions in 

 Man and Animals" — a series to which we may hope 

 other volumes may in due time be added. We would 

 rather, if space permitted, attempt an analysis of the 

 less known, but not less masterly, subsidiary essays, 

 upon the various arrangements for insuring cross-fer- 



