CHAPTER I. 



THE DARWINIAN THEORY OF ORGANIC 

 EVOLUTION. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the dissent of many emi- 

 nent authorities, the theory of the Evolu- 

 tion of species by natural selection, made 

 public by Darwin in 1859, still holds the 

 field, and as a comparison of his theory 

 with that in the preceding pages will tend 

 to disclose their respective values, we now 

 proceed to set forth Darwin's views as we 

 gather them from his works, and to examine 

 impartially, if possible, the evidence and 

 arguments adduced in their support. 



It would be beyond the scope of this 

 work to examine exhaustively all Darwin's 

 writings on evolution, and we shall there- 

 fore deal only with the more important 

 phenomena referred to by him, and his in- 

 terpretation of their meaning. 



Darwin nowhere offers any views respect- 

 ing the origin of life, nor does he formulate 



