APPARITION OF SPECIES 91 



varietal forms, how much more must Nature be able 

 to effect in the unlimited time at her disposal ? ! 



In this short sentence we have an epitome of the 

 methods of this interesting philosophy. The writer 

 first assumes what has to be proved, namely, the 

 identity of species and varietal forms. Having thus 

 stolen a march upon us, he next makes the quite 

 unfounded assertion that unlimited time is available 

 for varietal changes. Geologists, no doubt, make 

 large demands on time ; but these are not unlimited. 

 Then we have the human thought and action implied 

 in the word art placed in comparison with an 

 imaginative personification of Nature, which means 

 nothing unless it is understood to be equal to a 

 personal Creator, who, on the hypothesis, might 

 possibly be dispensed with. 



But if the geologist is not convinced by this 

 argument he is asked to consider that in geological 

 time animals and plants have proceeded from more 

 simple to more complex states, and from more 

 generalised forms to those that are more specialised, 

 and that this is in accordance with the analogy of 

 the development from the embryo. He is even 

 accused of stupidity if he fails to be convinced by 

 this analogy, or if he objects that there can be no 

 true analogy between a germ developing from or in 

 a parent, and under special conditions, and an 

 adult animal or series of adult animals supposed 



1 Le Conte, Evolution, &c., 1889. 



