THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 173 



or can acquire, respecting the conditions and laws of recurrence of 

 the more complex phenomena, is called, in its most general ex- 

 pression, the deductive method, and consists of three operations : 

 the first, one of direct induction ; the second, of ratiocination ; and 

 the third, of verification." 



Now, the conditions which have determined the existence 

 of species are not only exceedingly complex, but, so far as the 

 great majority of them are concerned, are necessarily beyond 

 our cognizance. But what Mr. Darwin has attempted to 

 do is in exact accordance with the rule laid down by Mr. 

 Mill ; he has endeavoured to determine certain great facts 

 inductively, by observation and experiment ; he has then 

 reasoned from the data thus furnished ; and lastly, he has 

 tested the validity of his ratiocination by comparing his 

 deductions with the observed facts of Nature. Inductively, 

 Mr. Darwin endeavours to prove that species arise in a given 

 way. Deductively, he desires to show that, if they arise in 

 that way, the facts of distribution, development, classifica- 

 tion, etc., may be accounted for, i.e. may be deduced from 

 their mode of origin, combined with admitted changes in 

 physical geography and climate, during an indefinite period. 

 And this explanation, or coincidence of observed with 

 deduced facts, is, so far as it extends, a verification of the 

 Darwinian view. 



There is no fault to be found with Mr. Darwin's 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 inconsistent 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 hypotheses 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 



