36 MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. [n. 



cries out that here is " a change of front in face of the 

 enemy " ! 



Further twisting is caused by unintelligent study 

 of the subject criticised. Mr. Mivart, for example, 

 attributes to the evolutionists the opinion that "virtue 

 and pleasure are synonymous, for in root and origin 

 they are identical. " This misrepresentation arises 

 from imperfect apprehension of the fact that, accord- 

 ing to the doctrine of evolution, differences in kind 

 result from the accumulation of differences in degree. 

 One might as well say that evolutionists consider the 

 workings of Newton's genius to be identical with 

 reflex action, since in its root and origin all mental 

 activity was a kind of reflex action. Nay, one might 

 as well say that evolutionists consider a man indis- 

 tinguishable from a cuttle-fish, since in their root and 

 origin the vertebrate and molluscan types have been 

 proved by Kovalevsky to be identical. 



For the rest, Mr. Mivart evinces frequent want of 

 sagacity as to the really vital points of the case in 

 which he appears as an advocate. He takes great 

 pains to show that some savage races have degene- 

 rated in civilisation, and also that the intellectual 

 difference between the lowest men and the highest 

 apes far exceeds the structural difference. But this 

 is, after all, a misconception of the requirements of 



