126 



CHARLES DARWIN. 



forth, acknowledge that the work in which they are embodied 

 is a solid contribution to knowledge and inaugurates a new 

 epoch in natural history." 



Towards the end of the essay, after vindicating 

 the logical method followed by Darwin, he continues 

 (pp. 73-76) :- 



"There is no fault to be found with Mr. Darwin's method, 

 then ; but it is another question whether he has fulfilled all 

 the conditions imposed by that method. Is it satisfactorily 

 proved, in fact, that species may be originated by selection ? 

 that there is such a thing as natural selection 1 that none of 

 the phoenomena exhibited by species are inconsistent with the 

 origin of species in this way? If these questions can be 

 answered in the affirmative, Mr. Darwin's view steps out of 

 the ranks of hypotheses into those of proved theories ; but, 

 so long as the evidence at present adduced falls short of 

 enforcing that affirmation, so long, to our minds, must the 

 new doctrine be content to remain among the former — an 

 extremely valuable, and in the highest degree probable, 

 doctrine, indeed the only extant hypothesis which is worth 

 anything in a scientific point of view ; but still a hypothesis, 

 and not yet the theory of species. 



"After much consideration, and with assuredly no bias 

 against Mr. Darwin's views, it is our clear conviction that, as 

 the evidence stands, it is not absolutely proven that a group of 

 animals, having all the characters exhibited by species in 

 Nature, has ever been originated by selection, whether artificial 

 or natural. Groups having the morphological character of 

 species, distinct and permanent races in fact, have been so 

 produced over and over again ; but there is no positive evi- 

 dence, at present, that any group of animals has, by variation 

 and selective breeding, given rise to another group which was 

 even in the least degree infertile with the first. Mr. Darwin 

 is perfectly aware of this weak point, and brings forward a 

 multitude of ingenious and important arguments to diminish 

 the force of the objection. We admit the value of these argu- 

 ments to their fullest extent ; nay, we will go so far as to 



