89 



a most appropriate motto for speculations of this kind. ' Leave out the 

 date entirely, Trim,' said my Uncle Toby. In almost similar language, 

 ' there was a certain Monkey,' says Mr. Darwin ; of that he is quite sure, 

 and he frequently reiterates the assurance ; ' There was a certain Monkey ; 

 but in what period or country, excfipt his own, I am not able to inform my 

 readers.' The certainty, unfortunately, is hypothetical, and the particular 

 monkey unknown." 



" We are at a loss to understand the value of all this complicated 

 guess-work. It represents a kind of Ptolemaic theory of creation heaping 

 supposition on supposition and multiplying cycles of action as each 

 supposition requires to be supplemented. It is the most conspicuous 

 example yet afforded of that ' use of the imagination in science, 8 on which 

 professor Tyndall dilated with such unscientific enthusiasm last Autumn. 

 Mr. Darwin's imagination is inexhaustible, and his power in this respect 

 contributes greatly to the charm of his strictly philosophical writings, but 

 he does not hesitate, in accordance with Professor Tyndall' s advice, to let it 

 take the place of science when the means and methods of science fail." 



" In section D (Anthropological Department) the meeting was held in 

 the great lecture theatre of the museum, so as to accommodate the large 

 number of persons who desired to attend. The question of haman relation- 

 ship to the ape was again talked about (for it cannot be said to have been 

 discussed) by many speakers who vied with one another in loudness of 

 declamation and shallowness of argument." 



" This assumption is the very point to be proved. To argue from, it is to 

 assume the whole doctriue of evolution. The assertion in question is 

 scientific or not, according as it is true or not. The only scientific question 

 is whether, as a matter of fact, species have been developed by force of cir- 

 cumstances out of other species, and man out of an ape. It is certainly no 

 scientific argument to assume that they must have been." 



" Starting from the unsubstantial presumption just indicated, Mr. 

 Darwin proceeds to speculate on the manner of man's development, 

 without being able to adduce the slightest evidence that facts correspond 

 with his hypothesis. The history, however ingenious, is purely imaginary 

 from beginning" to end." 



" Further consideration has led him to perceive an imperfection in his 

 hypothesis of natural selection. ' He had not,' he says, ' sufficiently con- 

 sidered the existence of many structures in animals which appear to be, as 

 far as we can judge, neither beneficial nor injurious ; ' and this he believes 

 to be one of the greatest oversights yet detected in his work. In other 

 words, the action of Natural Selection will not of itself sustain the theory of 

 the continuous evolution of all organised beings from inferior forms." 



" That, at all events, is the practical result for all the purposes of life. 

 If, as seems to be admitted even by the most adavnced Evolutionists, 

 species be so permanently fixed that millions of years would be necessary to 

 transform them, it follows that for all human purposes they must be treated 

 as permanently independent." 



" It is impossible to maintain unbroken gravity in discussing such a 

 dream. But let us turn to Mr. Darwin's investigation of the physical bases 

 of his conclusion, which appears to us scarcely less unsatisfactory than his 

 inquiry into its mental and moral bearings. He simply accumulates a 

 variety of points of similarity between the human frame and that of 

 animals." 



" There is much reason to fear that loose philosophy stimulated by an 

 irrational religion, has done not a little to weaken the force of religious 

 principles in France, and that this is at all events one potent element in the 

 disorganization of French Society. A man incurs a grave responsibility, 

 who, with the authority of a well-earned reputation, advances at such a 

 time the disintegrating speculations of this book. He ought to be capable 



