10 THE DARWINIAN HYPOTHESIS I 



A large number of persons practically assume 

 the former position to be correct. They believe 

 that the writer of the Pentateuch was empowered 

 and commissioned to teach us scientific as well as 

 other truth, that the account we find there of the 

 creation of living things is simply and literally 

 correct, and that anything which seems to con- 

 tradict it is, by the nature of the case, false. All 

 the phenomena which have been detailed are, on 

 this view, the immediate product of a creative 

 fiat and, consequently, are out of the domain of 

 science altogether. 



Whether this view prove ultimately to be true 

 or false, it is, at any rate, not at present sup- 

 ported by what is commonly regarded as logical 

 proof, even if it be capable of discussion by 

 reason ; and hence we consider ourselves at liberty 

 to pass it by, and to turn to those views which 

 profess to rest on a scientific basis only, and there- 

 fore admit of being argued to their consequences. 

 And we do this with the less hesitation as it so 

 happens that those persons who are practically 

 conversant with the facts of the case (plainly a 

 considerable advantage) have always thought fit 

 to range themselves under the latter category. 

 I The majority of these competent persons have 

 up to the present time maintained two positions 

 the first, that every species is, within certain de- 

 fined limits, fixed and incapable of modification ; 

 the second, that every species was originally pro- 



