PREFACE. XV11 



the correction of spherical and chromatic 

 aberration, could have been formed by 

 c Natural Selection,' seems, I freely confess, 



absurd in tJie highest possible degree 



If it could be demonstrated that any 

 complex organ existed, which could not 

 possibly have been by numerous successive, 

 slight modifications, my theory would 

 absolutely break down" * 



A remarkable incident connected with 

 the eye has been recently recorded, which 

 confirms the belief so frankly expressed 

 by Mr. Darwin, that to imagine so ex- 

 quisitely formed an instrument of men 

 and animals is due to " Natural Selection," 

 and not to the Divine Artificer, is " absurd 

 in the highest possible degree." The 

 Detroit News, U.S., mentions the case of a 

 young man, 19 years of age, who had been 

 totally blind for many years, owing to an 

 inflammation, which caused the lower lid 

 of each eye to grow up over the ball 

 and pupil. A distinguished oculist de- 



* Darwin's Origin of Species, p. 189. 



