i DARWINIANS RETROGRADE 63 



further broadening that broader view 

 which Darwin reached as he grew older, 

 his followers appear to have retrograded 

 towards a more restricted view than he 

 ever expressed." The evil must have 

 gone far indeed when this great apostle 

 of Evolution has to plead so laboriously 

 and so humbly "that it is yet far too 

 soon to close the inquiry concerning the 

 causes of organic evolution." Too soon 

 indeed ! That such an assumption 

 should have been possible, and that it is 

 virtually made, is part of the Great 

 Confession to which I have desired to 

 direct attention. I hope it will tend to 

 redeem the work of the greatest natural 

 observer who has ever lived from the 

 great misuse which has been often made 

 of it. There is no real disparagement 

 of that work in saying that the phrase 

 which embalmed it is metaphorical. 

 The very highest truths are conveyed in 



