INTRODUCTION. xix 



arrangement appears to exist in nature, and even Wallace's diagrams 

 show this. It appearsj however, according to some, that the affinities 

 of the species of any group are various, and cannot be expressed by 

 figures, every natural group and species being connected not with 

 two only, but with several ; and it is possible that any natural group, 

 if we possessed all the forms which it comprised, would present links 

 of transition towards all the other groups of the same family or order. 

 Many examples might be given to show the tendency to a circular 

 arrangement, but I shall content myself by pointing out to the student 

 this supposed feature, to verify, or otherwise, in any group he may 

 be studying. Many gaps of course occur in following the chain of 

 affinities, some very great, others easily bridged over. These of 

 course are stumbling blocks in the way of such as believe in a com- 

 plete chain or circle ; and the fossil remains of birds, hitherto dis- 

 covered, have not been sufficiently numerous to make these intervals 

 much less. 



That a special design is exhibited in Creation there can, I think, be 

 but little doubt. It is admitted by almost all, and most fully and 

 unequivocally, in the best known and most highly organized group, 

 the Vertebrata; in all the classes- of which a certain archetype of 

 form is preserved, marked and recognizable, however disguised for 

 special ends. It is surely more consonant to our ideas of a Creator 

 to believe that He formed His numberless creatures with certain rela- 

 tions to each other, than to conceive that each was brought to life 

 independently. Indeed, a follower of Darwin might fairly argue 

 that the evidence of design is as clearly shown by the theory of the 

 transmutation of species, as by that of separate individual creation ; 

 but Darwin* himself, perhaps, lays too much stress on external and 

 fortuitous circumstances as producing varieties, and not enough on 

 the inherent power of change, which, as he clearly shows, is now and 

 then exhibited by various organic bodies. 



That species were created at hap-hazard, without any reference to 

 others, either of the same group or more distant ones, is a doctrine 

 so opposed to all the affinities and analogies observed throughout the 

 animated world, that the mind refuses to accept It, and intuitively 

 acknowledges the eviduiu ->! !.' .-ij;n. 



