LAMARCK AND MR. DARWIN. 263 



I am mistaken, that, no matter how much the creature 

 reproducing itself may gain in power and versatility, it 

 must still always begin with itself again in each gene- 

 ration. The primordial cell being capable of reproduc- 

 ing itself not only once, but many times over, each of 

 the creatures which it produces must be similarly gifted ; 

 hence the geometrical ratio of increase and the existing 

 divergence of type. In each generation it will pass 

 rapidly and unconsciously through all the earlier 

 stages of which there has been infinite experience, 

 and for which the conditions are reproduced with 

 sufficient similarity to cause no failure of memory or 

 hesitation ; but in each generation, when it comes to 

 the part in which the course is not so clear, it will 

 become conscious ; still, however, where the course is 

 plain, as in breathing, digesting, &c, retaining uncon- 

 sciousness. Thus organs which present all the appear^ 

 ance of being designed — as, for example, the tip for its 

 beak prepared by the embryo chicken — would be pre- 

 pared in the end, as it were, by rote, and without sense 

 of design, though none the less owing their origin to j 

 design. 



The question is not concerning evolution, but as to 

 the main cause which has led to evolution in such and 

 such shapes. To me it seems that the " Origin of Varia- 

 tion," whatever it is, is the only true " Origin of Species," 

 and that this must, as Lamarck insisted, be looked for 

 in the needs and experiences of the creatures varying. 

 Unless we can explain the origin of variations, we are 

 met by the unexplained at every step in the progress of 

 a creature from its original homogeneous condition to its 



