m CRITICISMS ON " THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES " 99 



fairness in admitting and discussing objections, 

 what is to be thought of M. Flourens' assertion, 

 that 



"M. Darwin ne cite que les auteurs qui partagent ses 

 opinions." (P. 40.) 



Once more (p. 65) : 



"Enfin 1'ouvrage de M. Darwin a paru. On ne pent qu'etre 

 frappe du talent de 1'auteur. Mais que d'idees obscures, que 

 d'idees fausses ! Quel jargon metaphysiqne jete mal a propos 

 dans 1'histoire naturelle, qui tombe dans le galimatias des qu'elle 

 sort des idees claires, des idees justes ! Quel langage pretentienx 

 et vide ! Quelles personnifications pueriles et surannees ! O 

 lucidite ! solidite de 1' esprit Francais, que devenez-vous ? " 



" Obscure ideas," " metaphysical jargon," " pre- 

 tentious and empty language," "puerile and 

 superannuated personifications." Mr. Darwin has 

 many and hot opponents on this side of the 

 Channel and in Germany, but we do not recollect 

 to have found precisely these sins in the long 

 catalogue of those hitherto laid to his charge. It 

 is worth while, therefore, to examine into these 

 discoveries effected solely by the aid of the 

 " lucidity and solidity " of the mind of M. 

 Flourens. 



According to M. Flourens, Mr. Darwin's great 

 error is that he has personified Nature (p. 10), 

 and further that he has 



"imagined a natural selection: he imagines afterwards that 

 this power of selecting (pouvoird'elire) which he gives to Nature 

 is similar to the power of man. These two suppositions ad- 



H 2 



