24 WHAT IS DARWINISM? 



immediate knowledge is mind-force, the infer- 

 ence, is " that the whole universe is not merely 

 dependent on, but actually is, the will of higher 

 intelligences, or of one Supreme Intelligence/'-^ 

 This is a transition from virtual materialism to 

 idealistic pantheism. The effect of this admis- 

 sion on the part of Mr. Wallace on the theory of 

 natural selection, is what an explosion of its 

 boiler would be to a steamer in mid-ocean, 

 which should blow out its deck, sides, and bot- 

 tom. Nothing would remain above water. 



The Duke of Argyll seems at times inclined 

 to lapse into the same doctrine. " Science," he 

 says, " in the modern doctrine of conservation 

 of energy and the convertibility of forces, is 

 already getting a firm hold of the idea, that all 

 kinds of force are but forms of manifestations 

 of one central force issuing from some one 

 fountain-head of power. Sir John Herschel 

 has not hesitated to say, ' that it is but reason- 

 able to regard the force of gravitation as the 

 direct or indirect result of a consciousness or 

 will existing somewhere.' And even if we can- 

 not certainly identify force in all its forms with 

 the direct energies of the one Omnipresent and 



1 The Theory of Natural Selection. By Alfred Russel Wal- 

 lace. London, 1870, p. 368. 



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