SCIENTIFIC USE OF THE IMAGINATION. 127 



species, and he has drawn adventurously upon matter 

 in his theory of pangenesis. According to this theory, 

 a germ, already microscopic, is a world of minor germs. 

 Not only is the organism as a whole wrapped up in the 

 germ, but every organ of the organism has there its 

 special seed. This, I say, is an adventurous draft on 

 the power of matter to divide itself and distribute its 

 forces. But, unless we are perfectly sure that he is 

 overstepping the bounds of reason, that he is unwitting- 

 ly sinning against observed fact or demonstrated law 

 for a mind like that of Darwin can never sin wittingly 

 against either fact or law we ought, I think, to be 

 cautious in limiting his intellectual horizon. If there 

 be the least doubt in the matter, it ought to be given 

 in favour of the freedom of such a mind. To it a vast 

 possibility is in itself a dynamic power, though the pos- 

 sibility may never be drawn upon. It gives me plea- 

 sure to think that the facts and reasonings of this 

 discourse tend rather towards the justification of Mr. 

 Darwin, than towards his condemnation; for they seem 

 to show the perfect competence of matter and force, as 

 regards divisibility and distribution, to bear the heavi- 

 est strain that he has hitherto imposed upon them. 



In the case of Mr. Darwin, observation, imagina- 

 tion, and reason combined have run back with wonder- 

 ful sagacity and success over a certain length of the 

 line of biological succession. Guided by analogy, in 

 his * Origin of Species ' he placed at the root of life a 

 primordial germ, from which he conceived the amazing 

 variety of the organisms now upon the earth's surface 

 might be deduced. If this hypothesis were even true, 

 it would not be final. The human mind would in- 

 fallibly look behind the germ, and however hopeless 

 the attempt, would enquire into the history of its gene- 

 eis. In this dim twilight of conjecture the searcher 



