TRANSMUTABLE. 41 



moment maintained, so long as facts (and not 

 reasoning only) are to be the basis of our specu- 

 lations." "It does indeed appear strange that 



naturalists who have combined great synthetic 

 qualities with a profound knowledge of minutiae 

 and detail, should ever have upheld so monstrous 

 a doctrine as that of the transmutation of one 

 species into another a doctrine, however, which 

 arises almost spontaneously, if we are to assume 

 that there exists in every race the tendency to 

 an unlimited progressive improvement. There 

 are certainly no observations on record which 

 would in the smallest degree countenance such 



an hypothesis." "It is moreover a singular 



phenomenon, and one in which the strongest 

 proofs of design (or a primary adjustment of 

 limits with a view to the future)- may be 

 discerned, that the members of the organic 

 creation, which display the greatest adnptive 

 power, are those which were apparently destined 



to become peculiarly attendant upon man." 



"The whole theory is full of inconsistencies, 

 from beginning to end; arid from whatever point 

 we view it, it is equally unsound." (Op. Cit, 

 pages 186-8.) 



Such were the recorded opinions of Mr. 

 Woollaston in 1856, and to whom does the 

 reader suppose his work is dedicated? To no 

 one else but Mr. Darwin ! Alas for human 

 nature! Could Mr. Woollaston, when he penned 

 the above sound and excellent remarks, have 

 dreamt that the man to whom he dedicated his 



