CHARLES DARWIN: A SKETCH. 287 



gel's ideas as far from fantastic. Yet, instead of 

 taking the single forward step wliich now seems so 

 obvious, lie even hazarded the conjecture that the 

 insect-forms of some orchideous flowers are intended 

 to deter rather than to attract insects. And so the 

 explanation of all these and other extraordinary struct- 

 ures, as well as of the arrangement of blossoms in 

 general, and even the very meaning and need of sex- 

 ual propagation, w^ere left to be supplied by Mr. Dar- 

 win. The aphorism " N^ature abhors a vacuum " is a 

 characteristic specimen of the science of the middle 

 ages. The aphorism '' Nature abhors close fertiliza- 

 tion," and the demonstration of the principle, belong 

 to our age, and to Mr. Darwin. To have originated 

 this, and also the principle of natural selection — the 

 truthfulness and importance of which are evident the 

 moment it is apprehended — and to have applied these 

 principles to the system of Nature in such a manner 

 as to make, within a dozen years, a deeper impression 

 upon natural history than has been made since Lin- 

 naeus, is ample title for one man^s fame. 



There is no need of our givjng any account or of 

 estimating the importance of such works as the '' Ori- 

 gin of Species by means of Natural Selection," the 

 " Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestica- 

 tion," the " Descent of Man, and Selection in relation 

 to Sex," and the "Expression of the Emotions in 

 Man and Animals " — a series to which we may hope 

 other volumes may in due time be added. We w^ould 

 rather, if space permitted, attempt an analysis of the 

 less known, but not less masterly, subsidiary essays, 

 upon the various arrangements for insuring cross-fer- 



