et Imbecillitate Darwiniana. 47 



But Lamarck could not explain the modus 

 originis ? Neither could Darwin : nay, his 

 attempt at explanation is worse than La- 

 marck's. For while Lamarck's is only un- 

 intelligible, Darwin's is impossible. And 

 why, simply for having made an absurd 

 attempt to explain Lamarck's theory, Dar- 

 win should get the credit .of originating it 

 to the extent of supplanting Lamarck alto- 

 gether, it is not easy to understand. 



III. But there is another man, who has 

 been unjustly thrown into the shade by the 

 over-valuation of Darwin, and that is the 

 author, originally anonymous, of the Ves- 

 tiges of the Natural History of Creation : 

 Robert Chambers. Chambers was a literary 

 philosopher, rather than a man of science. 

 Nevertheless, this is an instance of the old 

 adage, that reforms must come from without : 

 for it was Chambers and his Vestiges which 

 really did what Darwin is popularly sup- 



