Rev. S. Haughton on the Origin of Species. 425 



be supposed that a public which accepted mesmerism and table- 

 turning could judge with accuracy of the pretensions of loose 

 and ill-reasoned speculations on the origin of life. It has rained, 

 hailed, and poured theories of life — religious, philosophical, and 

 pseudoscientific — with a marvellous rapidity within the last 

 few years. Some theorists have started from the nebular hypo- 

 thesis of Laplace ; others have speculated on the results of 

 superfoetation ; and others on the brilliant and seductive theory 

 of the correlation of physical forces ; but they may all be classed 

 as, knowingly or not, the followers of Lamarck. Some have 

 taught that all the planets, being composed of the same mineral 

 constituents as the earth, must produce in succession the same 

 organic phenomena, and weary the reader with the idea of the 

 same Pterodactyles and Cetacea, the same monads and men, ap- 

 pearing on all the globes that circle round the sun ! Others 

 have called to mind the loss of heat of our planet, and, by the 

 correlation of forces, have reproduced it in the increasing intelli- 

 gence of the successive forms of life that have peopled our 

 globe ! ! In a word, there is no folly that human fancy can 

 devise, when truth has ceased to be of primary importance, and 

 right reason and sound logic have been discarded, that has not 

 been produced and preached as a new revelation. Neither have 

 the disciples of Lamarck wanted the martyr spirit, i. e. the dis- 

 position to make martyrs of others, which is generally supposed 

 to be essential to the apostles of a new faith. They have courted 

 persecution, and reviled their opponents with bitter words, and 

 with such weapons as are permitted by the free civilization 

 under which we live. They argue, with a logic worthy of their 

 system, that because truth has been often in a minority, there- 

 fore minorities and theories in a minority must necessarily be 

 true. 



It is curious to observe the natural instinct by which Lamarck 

 and his followers appeal from the judgment of their peers to the 

 young, the enthusiastic, and the inexperienced. I shall quote 

 but two instances of this necessary instinct of self-preservation : — 



" Que de reflexions ces considerations pourront faire naitre 

 dans I'esprit du petit nombre de ceux qui en sont susceptibles et 

 qui sont lents a prononcer ! les autres auront bientot fait k cet 

 egard: ils trancheront sans examen, et decideront d'apres ce 

 qui leur conviendra le mieux, ou selon la portee de leurs con- 

 ceptions." — Lamarck, p. 123. 



" I by no means expect to convince experienced naturalists, 

 whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts, all viewed, 

 during a long course of years, from a point of view directly 



opposite to mine ; but I look with confidence to the 



future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol, xi. 28 



