Darwinism Verified. 11 



complete account of the origin of any one particu 

 lar species through natural selection, because we 

 can never be sure that we have taken due notice 

 of all the innumerable concrete circumstances in 

 volved in such an event. The theory, therefore, 

 cannot be adequately tested by any single striking 

 instance, but must depend for its support on the 

 cumulative evidence afforded by its general har 

 mony with the processes of organic nature. 



If we consider the Darwinian theory as a whole, 

 it must be admitted that such cumulative evi 

 dence has already been brought forward in suffi 

 cient quantity to amount to a satisfactory demon 

 stration. The convergence of proofs is too per 

 sistent and unmistakable to allow of any alter 

 native hypothesis being put in the field. But, in 

 exhibiting this, it is desirable that there should 

 be no confusion of thought as to the full import 

 of the Darwinian theory. Mr. Mivart s way of 

 describing that theory as an attempt to account 

 for the origin of all the various forms of life 

 through the operation of natural selection alone 

 is a gross misrepresentation. Mr. Darwin has 

 never urged his hypothesis in this limited shape. 

 The essential theorems of Darwinism are, first, 

 that forms of life now widely unlike have been 

 produced from a common original through the ac- 



