Ill LECTURES ON EVOLUTION 57 



man dying with a wound upon his head having 

 exactly the form and character of the wound 

 which is made by an axe, and, with due care in 

 taking surrounding circumstances into account, 

 you may conclude with the utmost certainty that 

 the man has been murdered ; that his death is 

 the consequence of a blow inflicted by another 

 man with that implement. We are very much in 

 the habit of considering circumstantial evidence 

 as of less value than testimonial evidence, and it 

 may be that, where the circumstances are not 

 perfectly clear and intelligible, it is a dangerous 

 and unsafe kind of evidence ; but it must not be 

 forgotten that, in many cases, circumstantial is 

 quite as conclusive as testimonial evidence, and 

 that, not unfrequently, it is a great deal weightier 

 than testimonial evidence. For example, take 

 the case to which I referred just now. The cir- 

 cumstantial evidence may be better and more 

 convincing than the testimonial evidence ; for it 

 may be impossible, under the conditions that I 

 have defined, to suppose that the man met his 

 death from any cause but the violent blow of an 

 axe wielded by another man. The circumstantial- 

 evidence in favour of a murder having been com- 

 mitted, in that case, is as complete and as con- 

 vincing as evidence can be. It is evidence which 



o 



is open to no doubt and to no falsification. But 

 the testimony of a witness is open to multitudin- 

 ous doubts. He may have been mistaken. He 



