Conclusion 1 8 1 



on any inherent distinction in the nature of the things 

 themselves. Strictly speaking, there is only one thing 

 and one action. The universe, or God, and the action of 

 the universe as a whole. 



Lastly, I may predict with some certainty that before 

 long we shall find the original Darwinism of Dr. Erasmus 

 Darwin (with an infusion of Professor Hering into the 

 bargain) generally accepted instead of the neo-Darwinism 

 of to-da}', and that the variations whose accumulation 

 results in species will be recognised as due to the wants 

 and endeavours of the living forms in which they appear, 

 instead of being ascribed to chance, or, in other words, 

 to unknown causes, as by Mr. Charles Darwin's system. 

 We shall have some idyllic young naturalist bringing up 

 Dr. Erasmus Darwin's note on Trapa nutans,^ and La- 

 marck's kindred passage on the descent of Ranunculus 

 hederaceus from Ranunculus aquaiilis - as fresh discoveries, 

 and be told, with much happy simplicity, that those 

 animals and plants which have felt the need of such or 

 such a structure have developed it, while those which 

 have not wanted it have gone without it. Thus, it will 

 be declared, every leaf we see around us, every structure 

 of the minutest insect, will bear witness to the truth of 

 the " great guess " of the greatest of naturalists concern- 

 ing the memory of living matter. 



I dare say the public will not object to this, and am 

 very sure that none of the admirers of jMr. Charles Darwin 

 or Mr. Wallace will protest against it ; but it may be as 

 well to point out that this was not the view of the matter 

 taken by Mr. Wallace in 1858 when he and Mr. Darwin 

 first came forward as preachers of natural selection. At 

 that time Mr. Wallace saw clearly enough the difference 

 between the theory of " natural selection " and that of 

 Lamarck. He wrote : — 



1 Les Amours des Plantes, p. 360. Paris, 1800. 



2 Philosophic Zoologique, torn. i. p. 231. Ed. M. Martin. Paris, 

 1873- 



