62 A GREAT CONFESSION CHAP. 



only under subjection." 1 This is a 

 prolific truth. It might have been dis- 

 covered sooner. Natural selection could 

 only select among things prepared for 

 and presented to its choice. How 

 from what physical causes did these 

 come ? Mr. Spencer's reply is, historic- 

 ally speaking, retrograde. He goes back 

 to Lamarck, he reverts to "use and dis- 

 use," to "environment" to surround- 

 ings to the " medium and its contents." 2 

 These again are mere phrases to cover 

 the nakedness of our own ignorance. 

 But I for one am thankful for the con- 

 clusion arrived at by a mind so acute 

 and so analytical as that of Mr. Spencer, 

 that "among biologists the beliefs 

 concerning the origin of species have 

 assumed too much the character of a 

 creed, and that while becoming settled 

 they have been narrowed. So far from 



1 P. 768. 2 Ibid. 



