62 Remarks on the Theories oj PT. n. 



consequences. Our experience does not yet afford 

 us one instance of any fresh stride fully made and 

 established in the whole circle of human knowledge 

 which has not tended to the improvement and to 

 the moral and intellectual elevation of Man : when- 

 ever any novel theory may be broached which leads 

 to narrow our prospects or to lower our position, 

 the strong presumption is created that it is founded 

 in error. , 



Where, however, the principles enunciated are so 

 novel and startling and their consequences would 

 give such a shock to all our most cherished con- 

 victions, as in the case of Mr. Darwin, it is natural 

 that we should scan them strictly, and examine them 

 in a spirit of doubt, and almost hostility. We must 

 be aware of the tendency of minds, even of the 

 most powerful and original caste, to become the 

 dupes of their own inventive genius, and to con- 

 struct from very slender materials the most plausible 

 systems. Descartes was one of the greatest intellects 

 of modern times, yet his whirlpools were among the 

 most notable instances of those false lights which lure 

 men of science into the path of error. 



I will not venture to follow Mr. Darwin through 

 the vast field of Natural History which he treads 



