272 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



Having covered the whole ground of revealed religion with 

 "natural religion "; having shown that one instantaneous crea- 

 tion would suffice to complete the universe; that science, phi- 

 losophy, and religion agree in excluding any new formation in 

 the organic world; that development simply unfolds what was 

 originally infolded, without change of structure or function; 

 that death has no sting, the grave -no victory ; that the distance 

 between the created and the Uncreated, the finite and the 

 Infinite, is infinite, so that there can be a "Flux perpetuel" 

 towards Supreme Perfection without ever reaching it; in a 

 word, having shown how " reason " can triumph over the senses, 

 Bonnet becomes enrapt over the " ravishing system," sees time 

 ended, eternity begun, the kingdom of Heaven disclosed, and 

 the crown of unfading glory already upon his head. The vision 

 closes, and the " end " is a vignette symbolizing the "grand 

 metamorphosis." 



We have seen that the old and the new evolution are based 

 upon antithetical conceptions, which exclude each other at 

 every point. Both deal with the same subject-matter, but 

 from standpoints so radically incongruous as to shut out every 

 possibility of convergence in principles. There is parallelism, 

 but only of opposite extremes ; analogy, but no homology of 

 ideas; parity of hypothesis, but no fundamental coincidence. 



Bonnet's theory was a negation wrapped in negations to a 

 depth that was absolutely hermetic to positive reality. It is 

 conceivable that this negation might be stripped of every in- 

 vesting envelope, but no " metamorphosis " of coats could ever 

 modify its fundamental character. In the very nature of the 

 case, it precluded any real advance towards the modern stand- 

 point. If the old evolution did not, and could not, advance 

 to the new, the progress of the new will never lessen the dis- 

 tance from the old. 



The old evolution was the greatest error that ever obstructed 

 the progress of our knowledge of development. If our exami- 

 nation has helped to clear the mist that obscured important 

 distinctions, we have not labored wholly in vain. 



