DAKWIN AND DELUSION. 7 



foircst skin of tlic liimianized ape, and witli hardly 

 a hair upon the whole surface of their ])odies. 

 More than this, those jngs, if I am to believe the 

 ^^ Darwinian theory," mast he, through ^'sexual 

 selection " of their parents, in a state of transition 

 to superior form ; for, though born with little curly 

 tails on a remarkably human flesh-like spot, they 

 have invariably, at a very early age, shed their 

 tails and become pork, as free from that appen- 

 dage as any monkey ancestor that ever existed in 

 Darwin's theoretical mind. So much, then, for the 

 Darwin tale about tails, for my tale, and hence to 

 the tails, or sterns, as sportsmen term them, of the 

 thorough-bred canine race. 



Is truth, is sincerity, a commendable virtue ? Is 

 the undoubted exj)ression of heartfelt pleasure, in 

 which there can be no mistake, a source of gratifi- 

 cation to the pleased observer ? On the other hand, 

 are deceit and falsehood to be detested? Is it 

 agreeable to possess the power of divining at once 

 the truth of words, of ascertaining the worth and 

 real meaning of a smile which seems to beam over 

 the eye, filling it with living light ? Is the power 

 to separate truth from falsehood, to see beyond the 

 mere word and feature, a source of happiness or 



