XT PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 461 



hypothesis or supposition than one of successive 

 modification ? But if the population of the 

 world, in any age, is the result of the gradual 

 modification of the forms which peopled it in the 

 preceding age if that has been the case, it is in- 

 telligible enough ; because we may expect that 

 the creature that results from the modification of 

 an elephantine mammal shall be something like 

 an elephant, and the creature which is produced 

 by the modification of an armadillo-like mammal 

 shall be like an armadillo. Upon that supposition, 

 I say, the facts are intelligible ; upon any other, 

 that I am aware of, they are not. 



So far, the facts of palaeontology are consistent 

 with almost any form of the doctrine of progressive 

 modification ; they would not be absolutely incon- 

 sistent with the wild speculations of De Maillet, 

 or with the less objectionable hypothesis of La- 

 marck. But Mr. Darwin's views have one peculiar 

 merit ; and that is, that they are perfectly con- 

 sistent with an array of facts which are utterly in- 

 consistent with, and fatal to, any other hypothesis 

 of progressive modification which has yet been 

 advanced. It is one remarkable peculiarity of 

 Mr. Darwin's hypothesis that it involves no neces- 

 sary progression or incessant modification, and 

 that it is perfectly consistent with the persistence 

 for any length of time of a given primitive stock, 

 contemporaneously with its modifications. To 

 return to the case of the domestic breeds of 



