PT. ii. Mr. Darwin and Mr. Buckle. 95 



Nevertheless, is his reasoning of the second step 

 satisfactory ? and does he establish the. connection 

 between his two principles and the facts which he 

 ascribes to their operation ? In the first place, his 

 actual experience must be a very confined one in 

 comparison with the extent of the field which his 

 theory embraces ; it comprehends all time, but the 

 living world alone and the scattered fossil remains 

 of extinct geological periods can be brought within 

 the sphere of his actual observation. But if I 

 understand his work, the living world alone only 

 exhibits the ultimate and latest effects of these prin- 

 ciples ; they have worked in order to produce them 

 during countless ages, quite beyond his view. All 

 the confirmation which actual observation can afford 

 must be sought in these latest and most recent 

 periods, whereas the working of his system has been 

 carried on in the most remote. But he does not 

 appear to cite instances of the results of Natural 

 Selection as falling within later experience ; indeed, 

 he seems to require such vast periods of time for 

 their operation that they quite pass the bounds of 

 any human observation ; we cannot see more than 

 the very faintest indication ; while, on the other 

 hand, we everywhere encounter what appear to be 



