Darwinism Verified. 11 



complete account of the origin of any one particu- 

 lar species through natural selection, because we 

 can never be sure that we have taken due notice 

 of all the innumerable concrete circumstances in- 

 volved in such an event. The theory, therefore, 

 cannot be adequately tested by any single striking 

 instance, but must depend for its support on the 

 cumulative evidence afforded by its general har- 

 mony with the processes of organic nature. 



If we consider the Darwinian theory as a whole, 

 it must be admitted that such cumulative evi- 

 dence has already been brought forward in suffi- 

 cient quantity to amount to a satisfactory demon- 

 stration. The convergence of proofs is too per- 

 sistent and unmistakable to allow of any alter- 

 native hypothesis being put in the field. But, in 

 exhibiting this, it is desirable that there should 

 be no confusion of thought as to the full import 

 of the Darwinian theory. Mr. Mivart's way of 

 describing that theory as an attempt to account 

 for the origin of all the various forms of life 

 through the operation of natural selection alone 

 is a gross misrepresentation. Mr. Darwin has 

 never urged his hypothesis in this limited shape. 

 The essential theorems of Darwinism are, first, 

 that forms of life now widely unlike have been 

 produced from a common original through the ao 



