176 Scientific Sophisms. 



when the ursine whale began his career he had 

 his tail to make an operation exactly the 

 reverse of that in the previous story. The land 

 animals, having been fishes, derived their tails 

 from the waters ; but in this latter case a land 

 animal goes into the water to live like a fish and 

 procure a tail. Humorous? Not at all. Per- 

 fectly serious. Consider the authority of Mr. 

 Huxley, and remember that "the hypothesis 

 postulates the unlimited modifiability of matter." 

 Nor is it matter alone which, in the hands of 

 " Natural Selection " presents the marvellous 

 transformations due to unlimited modifiability. 

 "Under changed conditions of life," says Mr. 

 Darwin, " it is at least possible that slight modi- 

 fications of instinct might be profitable to a 

 species ; and if it can be shown that instincts 

 do vary ever so little, then I can see no difficulty 

 in Natural Selection preserving and continually 

 accumulating variations of instinct to any extent 

 that was profitable. It is thus, / believe, that all 

 the most complex and wonderful instincts have 

 originated." * 



of this passage is omitted, for no apparent reason. No 

 hint is given that Mr. Darwin now sees any difficulty 

 where he saw none before, and the statement as now left 

 still contains the suggested transformation ; a suggestion 

 strengthened by the connection in which it is found. 

 1 " Origin of Species," p. 229. 



