TRANSMUTABLE. 241 



upon such arguments as these, that it is because 

 we substitute sentiment for intellect, or that we 

 are unable to "grasp"* the subject? Were such 

 men as Faley or Bell, or are such men as Agassiz 

 or Owen, unable to comprehend such reasoning? 

 Let us, above everything, have this matter argued 

 fairly, and not encumbered by the assumption, 

 that the doctrine of Mr. Darwin is not believed, 

 because it is not understood. Dr. Hooker makes, 

 I think, a great mistake, when he states that the 

 belief in the original creation of species, was 

 "merely another hypothesis, which, in the abstract, 

 was neither more rior less entitled to acceptance 

 than Mr. Darwin's; neither was it, in the present 

 state of science, capable of demonstration.' 7 



I answer to this 



1st. If I take a living animal, I find in it 

 a beautiful system of organs, endowed with the 

 faculties of performing separate functions, the sum 

 total of which constitutes the life of the being. 

 I find that these functions are performed according 

 to a fixed, and evidently pre-ordained series of 

 laws. I place the fact of the existence of these 

 organs, and the performance of these functions, 

 in conjunction with the position of the creature 

 in the world, arid I find that by the exercise of 

 my reason, I can form no other deduction, than 

 that all this was specially provided by the dis- 

 tinct creative act of a Great First Cause. I find 

 all the parts of the creature act harmoniously 

 and co-ordinately one with another; and therefore 



* See "Gardener's Chronicle," May, 1860. 



E 



