39 



the reply to "calling spirits from the vasty deep," u will they 

 come when you do call them ?" " Ay. there's the rub !" 



I believe that Natural Selection has " given the proper colour 

 to giouse " and other birds and bisects for " preserving them 

 from danger," but I do not tell you how they did before they 

 *' selected " their present colour. I cannot condescend to answer 

 any such questions. 



I believe that their colours were produced by the " aggregate 

 action and production of the sequence of events," or, in plain 

 English, that we see them as they are, and that is the reason of 

 their being so : I know all about it. What would you have 

 more ? You may ask me, as I hold that Natural Selection is 

 vastly superior to any art or skill of man, whether a watch or a 

 steam engine is the u result of the aggregate action and product 

 of the sequence of events ?" I am quite above replying to the 

 enquiry. Surely I may be judge in my own cause. 



I " see no greater difficulty " in Natural Selection giving wings 

 to seeds than in a planter improving his plants, but I cannot tell 

 you how they came to be. It is enough for me to have them 

 ready-to-be-made by and for my theory. 



I believe that the ostrich came from a bustard, by using its 

 legs more and its wings less, until it got to have no wings to fly 

 with. I do not pretend to tell you what it has gained by this 

 loss. You may say that wings would be very useful to it, 

 hunted as it is. That I cannot help. My theory requires it to 

 be as it is. Whatever is, is. That you cannot dispute. I like 

 a piquant argument. 



I believe that bustards still exist, though elsewhere I have 

 said that in all such cases of improvement by Natural Selection 

 the original species is " exterminated." You may ask me to 

 reconcile those two contradictory statements. It is no business 

 of mine to do so. You must take things as you find them, for me. 



I believe that a wingless bird comes by degrees, though we 

 have never seen the " transitional grade," at first to " float 

 along the surface of the sea," and " ultimately to rise from its 

 surface and glide through the air." I hope you do not mean to 

 doubt it, for I myself am a standing proof of a far greater 



