[46 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 



firmation ; meanwhile we will at once make ourselves 

 acquainted with some of the objections offered to it, 

 either to the theory of selection in particular, or to the 

 theory of selection combined with the doctrine of trans- 

 formation as a whole ; the most important of which 

 Darwin has already considered and answered. 



If, so it is said, all living beings stand in distinct and 

 uninterrupted connection with one another, what has 

 become of the infinitely numerous intermediate forms 

 which must necessarily have existed ? Our eyes turn 

 first to the organisms now living, and as, in accordance 

 with the theory, they are assumed to be the terminal 

 twigs of an infinitely ramified tree, which must obviously 

 press hard upon one another, and must each indepen- 

 dently diverge in all directions as varieties, we ask for 

 the intermediate forms of the species now existing side 

 by side. 



We may now appeal to the evidence already given 

 (p. 92. &c.), that in complete and extensive groups of 

 organisms, modern scientific research has been able to 

 discern nothing else than intermediate forms. Similarly, 

 the journey undertaken by Kerner in his little book on 

 " Good and Bad Species," in company with the botanist 

 Simplicius, from the West of Europe to the East, will 

 furnish an amusing number to the reader eager for 

 further material. The extension of the various species 

 of Cytisus which this naturalist has minutely investigated, 

 likewise exhibits the uninterrupted existence of connect- 

 ing forms on the territorial boundaries of species of which 

 the centres of propagation are more or less remote. 

 From all these instances, which may be reckoned by 

 thousands, it may be inferred that a large proportion 



