24: Ail the Articles of the Darwin Faith. 



assurance which a " Philosopher " ought to exhibit to 

 the public when he lays down the law to them. 



I believe it would be highly imprudent in me to accept 

 the challenge which was thrown down to me at the 

 meeting of the British Association in 187-i, to meet the 

 challenger face to face before the public and discuss the 

 truth or otherwise of my assertions. On the contrary, 

 though I have the advantage of a good memory, a 

 fluent tongue, and any amount you please of assu- 

 rance, if you will oblige me by using so mild a term, I 

 altogether shrink from the touchstone of common sense. 

 Theory and assertion are all I have to do with, to which I 

 always make it a rule (a very convenient one) to bend any 

 given number of facts. 



I bt-lievf that though Professor Salmon has shown that 



Darwinism is a mere scientific imagination, not a 



'itic fact, nevertheless the human species is descended 



iVdii the sfiiii-liuTimn. and this again from so low an origin 



pillar of some sea animal. 



I therefore believe, for all the above satisfactory reasons, 

 that the origin of man is to be derived as follows : 



1. Marine animals, resembling the larvce of existing 

 Ascidiaris. 



