68 Remarks on the Theories of PT. n. 



Species ' Mr. Darwin seems to admit that all Creation 

 springs from four or five primordial forms, but he 

 observes that a more correct deduction from his 

 principles would lead to the conclusion that every- 

 thing originated from one prototype. Mr. Darwin 

 does not very clearly explain how he understands 

 that this first step was made. He quotes the opinion 

 of a ' celebrated author and divine ' who, he says, has 

 written to him that 



' lie has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a 



* conception of the Deity to believe that He created a few 

 i original forms capable of self-development into other and 

 1 needful forms, as to believe that He required a fresh act 



* of creation to supply the voids caused by the action of 

 His laws.' 



Does Mr. Darwin adopt this theory of his corre- 

 spondent ? If he does so, then he admits the ex- 

 istence of an Intelligent and Omnipotent First 

 Cause, only that the mode of action is not direct 

 but derived through a chain of successive causes 

 and effects. If, according to the correspondent's 

 idea, he conceives that the Deity created these four 

 or five primordial forms of animal and vegetable 

 life, and that the successive stages of development 

 by which all animated nature has attained its pre- 



