XT.] MR. DARWIN ^S CRITICS. 299 



least degree, to the advance of the doctrine of evolution, 

 the great need of which is a theory of variation. 



When Mr. Mivart tells us that his " aim has been to 

 support the doctrine that these species have been evolved 

 by ordinary natural laws (for the most part unknown); 

 aided by the subordinate action of ' natural selection ' ' 

 (pp. 332-3), he seems to be of opinion that his enterprise 

 has the merit of novelty. All I can say is that I have 

 never had the slightest notion that Mr. Darwin's aim is 

 in any way different from this. If I affirm that " species 

 have been evolved by variation * (a natural process, the 

 laws of which are for the most part unknown), aided by 

 the subordinate action of natural selection," it seems to 

 me that I enunciate a proposition which constitutes the 

 very pith and marrow of the first edition of the " Origin 

 of Species. " And what the evolutionist stands in need 

 of just now, is not an iteration of the fundamental prin- 

 ciple of Darwinism, but some light upon the questions, 

 What are the limits of variation ? and, If a variety has 

 arisen, can that variety be perpetuated, or even in- 

 tensified, when selective conditions are indifferent, or 

 perhaps unfavourable, to its existence ? I cannot find 

 that Mr. Darwin has ever been very dogmatic in answer- 

 ing these questions. Formerly, he seems to have inclined 

 to reply to them in the negative, while now his incli- 

 nation is the other way. Leaving aside those broad 

 questions of theology, philosophy, and ethics, by the 

 discussion of which neither the Quarterly Reviewer nor 

 Mr. Mivart can be said to have damaged Darwinism 

 whatever else they have injured this is what their 

 criticisms come to. They confound a struggle for some 

 rifle-pits with an assault on the fortress. 



In some respects, finally, I can only characterize the 

 Quarterly Reviewer's treatment of Mr. Darwin as alike 



1 Including under this head hereditary transmission 



