Essays on Life 



one who wished it to be understood and judged 

 upon its merits. It was in consequence of 

 this omission that people failed to note how 

 fast and loose Mr. Darwin played with his 

 distinctive feature, and how readily he dropped 

 it on occasion. 



It may be said that the question of what 

 was thought by the predecessors of Mr. Darwin 

 is, after all, personal, and of no interest to the 

 general public, comparable to that of the main 

 issue whether we are to accept evolution or 

 not. Granted that Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, 

 and Lamarck bore the burden and heat of the 

 day before Mr. Charles Darwin was born, they 

 did not bring people round to their opinion, 

 whereas Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace did, 

 and the public cannot be expected to look 

 beyond this broad and indisputable fact. 



The answer to this is, that the theory which 

 Messrs. Darwin and Wallace have persuaded 

 the public to accept is demonstrably false, and 

 that the opponents of evolution are certain 

 in the end to triumph over it. Paley, in his 

 " Natural Theology," long since brought for- 

 ward far too much evidence of design in animal 



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