CHAP. xvni. MR. DARWIN'S VIEWS. 309 



knowingly do an injustice to any one. It is quite pos- 

 sible that, in my ignorance of what that gentleman's 

 true views really are, I may have spoken rashly and 

 hastily. That you can pardon, for in truth I have never 

 read one of his books, and the reviewers of them mry 

 have twisted his meaning to serve their own purposes. 



" If what Mr. Darwin means be, that the various ani- 

 mals and plants we see around us are not exactly first 

 creations that is, are not now what they were when 

 made by the hand of the Almighty, but have since that 

 act been changing continually, so that it is now difficult 

 to say from what particular stock the various forms have 

 come if that be all, if not pushed too far, it does not 

 seem dangerous doctrine ; in fact, it looks rather playful, 

 and at the same time it may have much truth in it. I 

 can myself see that it is and must be difficult to deter- 

 mine from what particular stock many species of plants 

 have sprung. For that every species, made such by man, 

 was a particular act of God's workmanship, is out of the 

 question. That idea I cannot admit at all. Cuvier's 

 definition of a species may be the right one, but surely it 

 is rash and presumptuous. How can I or any man, 

 while looking at a plant, say that it has maintained all 

 its particular characteristics unchanged since it came from 

 the hands of its Maker ? 



" Since I have looked at Scotch roses for example, 

 the very small lot of them to be met with in Caithness 

 I have found much to correct my earliest ideas on 

 creation, such as my teachers (knowing as little as I did 

 myself) instilled into me. I thought, even since I read 



