WASPS 215 



right, and without which life would not be worth 

 having. So I thought at the time ; it is a most 

 common delusion of the human mind, for we see 

 that the good which is so much to us is taken 

 forcibly away, and that we get over our loss and 

 go on very much as before. 



It is curious to see now that Darwin himself 

 gave the first comfort to those who, convinced 

 against their will, were anxious to discover some 

 way of escape which would not involve the total 

 abandonment of their cherished beliefs. At all 

 events, he suggested the idea, which religious minds 

 were quick to seize upon, that the new explanation 

 of the origin of the innumerable forms of life which 

 people the earth from one or a few primordial 

 organisms afforded us a nobler conception of the 

 creative mind than the traditional one. It does not 

 bear examination, probably it originated in the 

 author's kindly and compassionate feelings rather 

 than in his reasoning faculties ; but it gave tem- 

 porary relief and served its purpose. Indeed, to 

 some, to very many perhaps, it still serves as a 

 refuge this poor, hastily made straw shelter, which 

 lets in the rain and wind, but seems better to them 

 than no shelter at all. 



But of the intentionally consoling passages in 

 the book, the most impressive to me was that in 

 which he refers to instincts and adaptation such 

 as those of the wasp, which writers on natural 

 history subjects are accustomed to describe, in a 

 way that seems quite just and natural, as diabolical. 



