78 DISCRIMINATIONS CHAP. 



Nature which we know as organic life. 

 But it is quite possible to hold, and 

 even to be certain, that development 

 has taken place in organic forms, with- 

 out accepting either Darwin's or Mr. 

 Spencer's explanation of the process. 

 They both rest as we shall see upon 

 one and the same fundamental assump- 

 tion ; and they are both open to one 

 and the same fundamental objection 

 viz. the incompetence of them both to 

 account for, or to explain, all the facts, 

 or more even than a fraction of the 

 facts, with which they profess to deal. 



In order to make this plain we have 

 only to look closely to the peculiarities 

 of the Darwinian theory, and ascertain 

 exactly how much of it, or how little 

 of it, is common to the theory which 

 Mr. Spencer distinguishes by the more 

 general title of organic evolution. Dar- 

 win's theory can be put into a few very 



