I.] INTRODUCTORY. 



demonstration of that doctrine would be necessarily ac- 

 companied by the results which are hoped for by one 

 party and dreaded by another. 



The general theory of evolution has indeed for some 

 time past steadily gained ground, and it may be safely 

 predicted that the number of facts which can be brought 

 forward in its support will, in a few years, be vastly aug- 

 mented. But the prevalence of this theory need alarm no 

 one, for it is, without any doubt, perfectly consistent with 

 strictest and most orthodox Christian theology. Moreover, 

 it is not altogether without obscurities, and cannot yet be 

 .considered as fully demonstrated. 



The special Darwinian hypothesis, however, is beset with 

 certain scientific difficulties, which must by no means be 

 ignored, and some of which, the author ventures to think, 

 are absolutely insuperable. What Darwinism or " Natural 

 Selection " is, will be shortly explained ; but before doing 

 so, it may be well to state the object of this book, and the 

 view taken up and defended in it. Its object is to main- 

 tain the position that " Natural Selection " acts, and 

 indeed must act ; but that still, in order to account for 

 the production of known kinds of animals and plants, it 

 requires to be supplemented by the action of some other 

 natural law or laws as yet undiscovered. 1 Also, that the 

 consequences which have been drawn from Evolution, 

 whether exclusively Darwinian or not, to the prejudice 

 of religion, by no means follow from it, and are in fact 

 illegitimate. 



1 In the last edition of the "Origin of Species" (1869) Mr. Darwin 



himself admits that " Natural Selection " has not been the exclusive 



means of modification, though he still contends it has been the most 

 important one. 



