74 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



II 



method, then ; but it is another question whether 

 he has fulfilled all the conditions imposed by that 

 method. Is it satisfactorily proved, in fact, that 

 species may be originated by selection ? that there 

 is such a thing as natural selection ? that none 

 of the phenomena exhibited by species are incon- 

 sistent with the origin of species in this way ? If 

 these questions can be answered in the affirmative, 

 Mr. Darwin's view steps out of the rank of hypo- 

 theses into those of proved theories ; but, so long 

 as the evidence at present adduced falls short of 

 enforcing that affirmation, so long, to our minds, 

 must the new doctrine be content to remain among 

 the former an extremely valuable, and in the 

 highest degree probable, doctrine, indeed the only 

 extant hypothesis which is worth anything in a 

 scientific point of view ; but still a hypothesis, and 

 not yet the theory of species. 



After much consideration, and with assuredly 

 no bias against Mr. Darwin's views, it is our clear 

 conviction that, as the evidence stands, it is not 

 absolutely proven that a group of animals, having 

 all the characters exhibited by species in Nature, 

 has ever been originated by selection, whether 

 artificial or natural. Groups having the morpho- 

 logical character of species distinct and permanent 

 races in fact have been so produced over and over 

 again ; but there is no positive evidence, at present, 

 that any group of animals has, by variation and 

 selective breeding, given rise to another group 



