XX PREFACE. 



in an inextricable chaos.' And secondly,. 

 we ought to observe a slow and gradual, 

 but perceptible improvement in species 

 generally, especially marked in those 

 whose generations succeed each other 

 rapidly. Neither of these is observable."* 



There are upwards of 20,000 species of 

 animals in creation, and all experience 

 shows that in every instance when crossing 

 species has been attempted, in place of 

 there being any improvement, or the 

 transmutation of one species into another, 

 sterility has been the invariable result. 

 So that it seems contrary to observation 

 and experience to assume that there ever 

 was a time when this invariable law was 

 reversed. Dr. Carruthers, an eminent 

 botanist, has declared that "No single 

 case of Evolution of one species from another 

 has come within the observation of man" 



Hence, Professor Huxley justly ob- 



* See Dr. Elam's article in The Contemporary 

 Review of 1880. The phrase " inextricable chaos, " 

 is used by Mr. Darwin in his Origin of Species. 

 p. 407. 



