146 WHAT IS DARWINISM? 



There is only one cause for the fact referred 

 to, that we can think of The " Vestiges of Cre- 

 ation " did not expressly or effectually exclude 

 design. Darwin does. This is a reason as- 

 signed by the most zealous advocates of his 

 theory for their adoption of it. This is the rea- 

 son given by Biichner, by Haeckel, and by 

 Vogt. It is assigned also in express terms by 

 Strauss, the announcement of whose death has 

 diffused a feeling of sadness over all who were 

 acquainted with his antecedents. In his last 

 work, " The Old Faith and the New," he admits 

 " that Darwin's doctrine is a mere hypothesis ; 

 that it leaves the main points unexplained 

 (Die Hupt-und Cardinal-punkte noch unerklart 

 sind) ; nevertheless, as he has shown how 

 miracles may be excluded, he is to be ap- 

 plauded as one of the greatest benefactors of 

 the human race." (p. 177) By " Wunder," 

 or miracle, Strauss means any event for which 

 natural causes are insufficient to account. " We 

 philosophers and critical theologians," he says, 

 •' have spoken well when we decreed the abo- 

 lition of miracles ; but our decree (macht- 

 spruch) remained without effect, because we 

 could not show them to be unnecessary, inas- 

 much as we were unable to indicate any nat- 



