4 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



obtained so magnificent a triumph as Mr. Dar- 

 win. 



The comparison of the doctrine of natural selec- 

 tion with the Newtonian theory is made advisedly, 

 as I wish to call attention to some differences in 

 the aspect of the proofs by which two such differ- 

 ent hypotheses are established. First, however, 

 as the point will not hereafter come up for con- 

 sideration in this paper, it may be well to notice 

 the theological objection which has been urged 

 against Mr. Darwin, as it was once urged against 

 Newton, and to show briefly why, as above hinted, 

 it cannot be regarded as properly relevant to the 

 discussion of the scientific hypothesis. The the- 

 ological objection to natural selection, which has 

 weight with many minds, is precisely the same 

 objection that Leibnitz made to gravitation, 

 that the action of physical forces appears to be 

 substituted for the direct action of the Deity. 

 This has, indeed, been a very common objection 

 to theories which enlarge and define what is 

 called the action of secondary causes, but it has 

 been peculiarly unfortunate in this respect, that 

 with the progress of inquiry it has invariably 

 been overruled without practical detriment to 

 theism. It regularly happens that the so-called 

 atheistical theory becomes accepted as part and 



