et Imbecillitate Darwiniana. 39 



then, when wicked people begin to canvas 

 his great idea, and pick holes in it, he ex- 

 claims : O, that is not my position at all : 

 that is misrepresentation. But you cannot 

 both eat your cake and have it. If you 

 mount to heaven by means of Natural Se- 

 lection, you must fall with it too. It is lu- 

 dicrous to suppose that a man is to be 

 worshipped as a creative genius on the 

 strength of an idea from which he subse- 

 quently endeavours to withdraw. If ' Na- 

 tural Selection' is nonsense, what becomes 

 of Darwin and his Origin of Species? The 

 theory turns out to be a gigantic blunder : 

 he has discovered nothing at all : we are 

 thrown back upon Lamarck. For 



B. The real irony of his complaint is 

 that notwithstanding his partial disclaimer 

 of ' Natural Selection,' he has still no sus- 

 picion of the truth as to that theory. He 

 still holds it to be the main agent. For to 



