All the Articles of the Darwin Faitli. 35 



" We fear the truth is that the study of menial philo- 

 sophy, under the disastrous influence of one or two 

 popular writers, has of late years become extremely loose 

 and superficial, and Mr. Darwin does but illustrate the 

 general vagueness of thought which prevails on such 

 subjects." 



Here are a few more instances of the way in which these 

 would-be Philosophers have been set down by the London 

 Press. The next is from the " John Bull" 



" There is still, it seems, some uncertainty at one stage 

 of the evolution : 



No one can at present say by what line of descent the three higher and 

 related classes namely mammals, birds, and reptiles were derived from 

 either of the two lower vertebrate classes, namely, amphibians and 

 fishes, (Vol. I., p. 213.) 



The remaining steps, however, ' are not difficult to 

 'conceive.' Possibly not, if you start as Mr. Darwin 

 does, by assuming his principle of evolution as the sole 

 origin of species, and rejecting separate creation as ' un- 

 scientific.' In other words, you must first grant that man 

 is descended from a monkey, and then it is ' not difficult to 

 conceive' the intermediate steps ; but if you decline to 

 admit this petitio principii, you are wilfully closing your 



