246 DARWINIANA. 



more than less amenable to the criticisms we may be 

 disposed to make upon it. 2. That the author is thor- 

 oughly convinced that no species or form deserving 

 the name was ever derived from another, or originated 

 from natural causes ; and he maintains this doctrine 

 with earnestness, much variety of argument and illus- 

 tration, and no small ability ; so that he may be taken 

 as a representative of the view exactly opposed to that 

 which is favored by those naturalists whose essays we 

 have been considering to whom, indeed, he stands in 

 marked contrast in spirit and method, being greatly 

 disposed to argue the question from the remote rather 

 than the near end. 3. And finally, he has a convic- 

 tion that the evolutionary doctrines of the day are 

 not only untrue, but thoroughly bad and irreligious. 

 This belief, and the natural anxiety with which he con- 

 templates their prevalence, may excuse a certain vehe- 

 mence and looseness of statement which were better 

 avoided, as where the geologists of the day are said to 

 be " broken up into bands of specialists, little better 

 than scientific banditti, liable to be beaten in detail, 

 and prone to commit outrages on common-sense and 

 good taste which bring their otherwise good cause into 

 disrepute ; " and where he despairingly suggests that 

 the prevalence of the doctrines he deprecates " seems 

 to indicate that the accumulated facts of our age have 

 gone altogether beyond its capacity for generalization, 

 and, but for the vigor which one sees everywhere, 

 might be taken as an indication that the human mind 

 has fallen into a state of senility." 



This is droll reading, when one considers that the 

 " evolutionist" is the only sort of naturalist who has 



