ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 85 



refused to entertain the conception, on the ground 

 that it was " undignified " for heavenly bodies to 

 hurry and slacken their pace in accordance with 

 Kepler's law. This now seems most absurd to 

 us ; but to posterity it will not seem nearly so 

 much so as that, notwithstanding such precedents, 

 persons should still be found to object to Darwin's 

 discovery, not because they were anxious to 

 maintain the dignity of the heavenly bodies, but 

 because they were so ludicrously anxious to 

 maintain the dignity of their own ! Good it is 

 for man, puffed up with such silly pride, that 

 Nature teaches him humility. 



But, before leaving this subject, I should like 

 further to point out that those who advance this 

 preposterous objection from dignity appear to 

 forget one all-important point, viz., that whether 

 or not the monkey is the parent of the man, 

 the man is certainly made in every way to look 

 like a child of the monkey. For it is a matter 



