THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' 



557 



of the scientific conception of order is Providence ; and the 

 doctrine of determinism follows as surely from the attributes of 

 foreknowledge assumed by the theologian, as from the uni- 

 versality of natural causation assumed by the man of science. 

 The angels in ' Paradise Lost ' would have found the task of 

 enlightening Adam upon the mysteries of " Fate, Foreknowl- 

 edge, and Free-will," not a whit more difficult, if their pupil 

 had been educated in a '' Real-schule " and trained in every 

 laboratory of a modern university. In respect of the great 

 problems of Philosophy, the post-Darwinian generation is, 

 in one sense, exactly where the prae-Darwinian generations 

 were. They remain insoluble. But the present generation 

 has the advantage of being better provided with the means of 

 freeing itself from the tyranny of certain sham solutions. 



The known is finite, the unknown infinite ; intellectually 

 we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of 

 inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim 

 a little more land, to add something to the extent and the so- 

 lidity of our possessions. And even a cursory glance at the 

 history of the biological sciences during the last quarter of a 

 century is sufficient to justify the assertion, that the most 

 potent instrument for the extension of the realm of natural 

 knowledge which has come into men's hands, since the pub- 

 lication of Newton's * Principia,' is Darwin's ' Origin of Spe- 

 cies.' 



It was badly received by the generation to which it was 

 first addressed, and the outpouring of angry nonsense to which 

 it gave rise is sad to think upon. But the present generation 

 will probably behave just as badly if another Darwin should 

 arise, and inflict upon them that which the generality of man- 

 kind most hate — the necessity of revising their convictions. 

 Let them, then, be charitable to us ancients ; and if they 

 behave no better than the men of my day to some new bene- 

 factor, let them recollect that, after all, our wrath did not 

 come to much, and vented itself chiefly in the bad language 

 of sanctimonious scolds. Let them as speedily perform a 

 strategic right-about-face, and follow the truth wherever it 



