CHAPTER V. 



A HOUSE OF CARDS. 



" SPONTANEOUS Generation " therefore, not 

 less than " Transmutation of Species," is merely 

 " a puerile hypothesis." But on these two 

 dogmas the theory of agnostic Evolution is 

 absolutely dependent By means of the sup- 

 port derived from them if only they them- 

 selves could have been made to stand it might 

 have stood ; but with their fall, it also comes 

 to the ground. Its relation to them renders its 

 fate inevitable. The instability of the super- 

 structure is inseparably concomitant with the 

 insecurity of the foundation. 



Nor is this all. Fate is involved in charac- 

 ter: and when we proceed to examine the 

 character of this theory, we are at no loss to 

 discover the cause of its fate. 



If the doctrine of agnostic Evolution were 

 scientifically true, it could not fail to command 

 the universal assent of scientific men ; whereas 

 now, on the contrary, it is notorious that 



