OBJE C TIONS A GA INS T BVOLU TION. 157 



In the preceding pages I have presented fully, 

 and somewhat in detail, one of the stock arguments of 

 anti-evolutionists against the transmutation of spe- 

 cies. I have allowed the ablest and most noted oppo- 

 nents of the Evolution theory to present their objec- 

 tion in their own words, and have endeavored to select 

 what have always been considered the most telling 

 arguments against transpeciation. What, now, is the 

 answer to the objection, or is any answer possible ? 

 What explanation can be given of facts which seem 

 so utterly irreconcilable with the cardinal principles 

 of Evolution, and so antagonistic to the fundamen- 

 tal tenets of the leading exponents of transformism. 



Misapprehension of the Nature of Evolution and Answer 

 to Objections. 



The objection, as presented, rests on a total 

 misapprehension of the nature of Evolution. It 

 assumes that when an animal or a vegetable form 

 once comes into existence, it must necessarily and 

 continuously undergo progressive modifications. It 

 assumes, too, that such modifications as may oc- 

 cur, must take place at the same rate in one form of 

 life as in another. Both these postulates are equally 

 unwarranted, for they are both totally at variance 

 with Evolution as understood by its founders and 

 approved spokesmen. 



An answer, however, to the objection, was indi- 

 cated nearly a century ago by Cuvier's great con- 



de Questions Scientifiques " for January, 1877, and " Le Trans- 

 formisme et la Discussion Libre," in the same review for Janu- 

 ary and April, 1889, by De. Kirwan, who writes under the 

 pseudonym of Jean d' Estienne. 



