OBJECTIONS A GAINS T E VOL UTION. 185 



that species should be reciprocally sterile, but be- 

 cause of the fact of infecundity ; because, so it is 

 said, not a single instance can be cited of continued 

 fertility among the hybrid offspring of any two spe- 

 cies, however closely related. Here is the core of 

 the difficulty, " le fait" as the Marquis de Nadaillac 

 phrases it, " qui domine toute la question"^ Evolu- 

 tionists, say their opponents, confound species 

 with race, assert of one what is true only of the 

 other, pile hypothesis upon hypothesis, and ulti- 

 mately deny the reality of species, or see in this 

 fundamental group only an artificial combina- 

 tion. 



Morphological and Physiological Species. 



As is evident, we are here again confronted with 

 the old question of the reality and permanence of 

 species. And, unfortunately, most of the reasoning 

 one is asked to follow on the subject is carried on in 

 a vicious circle, or is based on assumptions which 

 are wholly unwarranted. What is species? This is a 

 question which again comes to the fore. Morpho- 

 logically, many of the domesticated pigeons, of 

 which Darwin makes mention, notably the pouter, the 

 tumbler, the fantail, and the carrier, are so unlike 



1 For a masterly presentation of the Marquis de Nadaillac's 

 objections against Evolution, see his " Problemede la Vie," and 

 11 Le Progres de 1 'Anthropologie," in the Compte Rendu of 

 the International Catholic Scientific Congress at Paris, in 1891. 

 For a critical examination of his views, see a paper on " Crea- 

 tion et Evolution," by Dr. Maisonneuve, in the same Compte 

 Rendu, Section of Anthropology, as also a paper entitled, " Pour 

 la Theorie des Ancetres Communs," by the Abbe Guillemet, 

 in the Compte Rendu of the same Congress, held at Brussels 

 in 1894. 



