IV. 



DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. 1 



THE words " materialist " and " atheist " have 

 been so long employed as death-dealing epithets in 

 the hands of hard-hitting theological controversialists, 

 that it seems hardly kind in us to begin the notice 

 of a somewhat meritorious book by saying that it is 

 the work of a materialist and an atheist. We are 

 reassured, however, by the reflection that these are 

 just the titles which the author himself delights in 

 claiming. Dr. Buchner would regard it as a slur 

 upon his mental fitness for philosophising if we were 

 to refuse him the title of atheist ; and "materialism " is 

 the name of that which is as dear to him as " liberty " 

 was dear to the followers of Danton and Mirabeau. 



1 Man in the Past, Present, and Future. A Popular Account of the 

 Results of Recent Scientific Research as regards the Origin, Position, 

 and Prospects of the Human Race. From the German of Dr. L. 

 Buchner, by W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. London, 1872. 



E 



