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myriads, to say nothing of the failure of countless experiments wasted 

 in the endeavour to connect the different orders, genera, and species. The 

 " struggle for life " you see Avas too much for them, though not for me, 

 and so it came to pass that there is such a vast hiatus between birds 

 and the vertebrated animals, as also the separation between all the 

 families of birds themselves. 



I believe that Cuvier only showed his ignorance in comparison 

 with me when he laid it down as to "every organised being" that all 

 their parts " correspond," and that " none of these parts can change 

 without the whole changing.'' 1 Such a dictum 1 have sense enough to see 

 musjt be fatal to my whole theory. Ergo, he must be wrong, and I must 

 be right. I cannot for a moment allow that any single created being 

 is perfect ; I can only suggest ideal improvements in every one of them, 

 " beneficial changes in a slight degree," and so on, and on. and on. 



I believe that all the correspondence in any creatures between their 

 organisation and instincts are purely accidental, and must be so. All 

 are explained by the " sequence of events " as ascertained by me. 



I believe that a spider had at first no capacity for catching insects, 

 and that the instinct by which it makes its web was not given to it for 

 that purpose ; that carnivorous animals were not designed to keep down 

 others, that birds were not made for living in trees, nor fishes in the 

 sea, nor insects to act the various parts they do, and that the plants of 

 the earth were not created for food for man or animals. No ; all these 

 things are the results of blind chance acting at random through incal- 

 culable ages of failures, the present end being at last hit upon, all the 

 predecessors of existing creatures having been " exterminated " in the 

 process. Design had nothing to do with the result.* ; they are all come 

 of the " sequence of events." Very good of them, was it not ? 



I believe that none of the beauties of Creation were intended to 

 please the eye, or any other sense. " This doctrine, if true, ivould, no 

 doubt, be absolutely fatal to my theory :" neither the colours of flowers, 

 nor their scents, nor the varied plumage of birds nor their songs. No ; 

 they are all accidents. You must take them as you find them, and 

 believe me that they are all the results of the " sequence of events," or 

 the " chapter of accidents," and not of any studied plan. 



I believe that the beauty of the male birds is to be attributed to 

 the coquetry of the females, beginning with their admiration of some 

 eccentric feather till the whole plumage followed suit, "fine by degrees" 

 and " beautifully more." You may call this a miserable puerility. So 

 be it. i hold it to be equal to the wisdom of Solomon, or if my 

 modesty will allow me to tell the whole truth, vastly superior to it. 



I believe, " I see no good reason to doubt," that female birds by selecting, 

 during thousands of generations, the most melodious or beautiful males, 

 according to their standard of beauty, might produce a marked efiect." 

 You say, how much obliged to the hen birds we ought to be for the 

 production of all the beautifully plumed forms of birds we see. foreign 

 and British, and all their variety of songs. Yes, I think so too. You 

 are right for once. 



I believe that changes in the structure of animals, which imply and 

 involve an intuitive knowledge of the profoundest secrets of Physiology, are 

 effected in all creatures, w r hile yet, as in 'the case of a toad or an oyster 

 there_ is no intellect at all exercised in the transmutation, nor any 

 definite plan or object in view as to what is to be attained to. Yes ; 

 thus from utter imbecility and the most profound ignorance, the highest 

 wisdom and the greatest perfection of strength are evolved by evolution 

 Only give helplessness, ignorance, and nothingness time enough, and they 

 will conjiue you up anything I please. " I am monarch of all I survey 



