182 CHARI.es DARWIN. 



" . . . the general doctrine of evolution, to one side of which 

 it gives expression, obtains, in the phenomena of biology, a 

 firm base of operations whence it may conduct its conquest of 

 the whole realm of nature." 



And again, on page 332 : — 



" The fundamental doctrine of the ' Origin of Species,' as 

 of all forms of the theory of evolution applied to biology, is 

 * that the innumerable species, genera, and families of organic 

 beings with which the world is peopled have all descended, 

 each within its own class or group, from common parents, and 

 have all been modified in the course of descent.' " 



Furthermore, on page 242 we read : — 



" I venture to repeat what I have said before, that so far 

 as the animal world is concerned, evolution is no longer a 

 speculation, but a statement of historical fact. It takes its 

 place alongside of those accepted truths which must be 

 reckoned with by philosophers of all schools." 



And on the same page he quotes with approval 

 the statement by M. Filhol of the results to which 

 he had been led by his palseontological investiga- 

 tions : — 



" Under the influence of natural conditions of which we 

 have no exact knowledge, though traces of them are dis- 

 coverable, species have been modified in a thousand ways : 

 species have arisen which, becoming fixed, have thus produced 

 a corresponding number of secondary species." 



Similarly, in the Obituary notice in Nature (1882), 

 Huxley speaks of the secure position in which 

 Darwin had placed the doctrine of evolution as his 

 great achievement. The following eloquent passage 

 occurs on page 247 of " Darwiniana " : — 



