Xviii HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



islands owed their origin to a great first Creative Cause." If we 

 interpret these sentences given in the same Address, one by the 

 other, it appears that this eminent philosopher felt in 1858 hi& 

 confidence shaken that the Apteryx and the Red Grouse first 

 appeared in their respective homes, "he knew not how," or by 

 some process " he knew not what." 



This Address was delivered after the papers by Mr. Wallace 

 and myself on the Origin of Species, presently to be referred to, 

 had been read before the Linnean Society. When the first edition 

 of this work was published, I was so completely deceived, as were 

 many others, by such expressions as "the continuous operation 

 of creative power," that I included Professor Owen with other 

 palaeontologists as being firmly convinced of the immutability of 

 species; but it appears ('Anat. of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. 796) 

 that this was on my part a preposterous error. In the last edition 

 of this work I inferred, and the inference still seems to me per- 

 fectly just, from a passage beginning with the words " no doubt 

 the type-form," &c. (Ibid. vol. i. p. xxxv.), that Professor Owen 

 admitted that natural selection may have done something in 

 the formation of a new species ; but this it appears (Ibid. vol. iii. 

 p. 798) is inaccurate and without evidence. I also gave some 

 extracts from a correspondence between Professor Owen and the 

 Editor of the ' London Review,' from which it appeared manifest 

 to the Editor as well as to myself, that Professor Owen claimed 

 to have promulgated the theory of natural selection before I had 

 done so ; and I expressed my surprise and satisfaction at this 

 announcement ; but as far as it is possible to understand certain 

 recently published passages (Ibid. vol. iii. p. 798) I have either 

 partially or wholly again fallen into error. It is consolatory to 

 me that others find Professor Owen's controversial writings as 

 difficult to understand and to reconcile with each other, as I do. 

 As far as the mere enunciation of the principle of natural selection 

 is concerned, it is quite immaterial whether or not Professor Owen 

 preceded me, for both of us, as shown in this historical sketch, 

 were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells and Mr. Matthews. 



M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, in his lectures delivered in 

 1850 (of which a Resume appeared in the 'Revue et Mag. de 

 Zoolog.,' Jan. 1851), briefly gives his reason for believing that 

 specific characters " sont fixes, pour chaque espece, tant qu'elle se 

 perpetue au milieu des memes circonstances : ils se modifient, si 

 les circonstances ambiantes viennent a changer." " En resume, 

 I" observation des animaux sauvages de"montre deja la variabilite 

 limitee des especes. Les experiences sur les animaux sauvages 

 devenus domestiques, et sur les animaux domestiques redevenus 

 sauvages, la deinontrent plus clairement encore. Ces memes ex- 

 periences prouvent, de plus, que les differences produites peuvent 



