PREFACE. XXxiii 



then seen the work in question, I received 

 a letter from a friend of whose judgment 

 I entertain great respect an elderly 

 Evangelical clergyman, who had taken a 

 high degree at Oxford half a century ago, 

 and whose opinion of the work in ques- 

 tion was thus expressed "I have read 

 with interest and pleasure Drummond's 

 Natural Law, &c., and think the chapters 

 on Biogenesis, Environment, Semi- Parasi- 

 tism and Parasitism, suggestive of much 

 truth and practical instruction." 



Ten days later I received unexpectedly 

 from a stranger the present of a small 

 work, entitled, Remarks on Drummond's 

 " Natural Law" by Benjamin Wills New- 

 ton, who was formerly a " Fellow of 

 Exeter College, Oxford." The kind 

 donor, after eulogising the Remarks as 

 containing " a clearer exposition of Scrip- 

 ture than any work with which he was 

 acquainted," warns me not " to be pre- 

 judiced by the dogmatic tone of the author, 

 which is sometimes apt to excite a feeling 

 of opposition to the view he advocates." 



