Gradation in Man. 145 



make that more easily believed he had exalted that animal 

 much more than modern inquiry justifies ; still he himself 

 thinks that it may be necessary to go far back, and an 

 evolutionist he is to an extent most decided. The mode 

 in which language and thought are evolved is reasoned 

 out in a manner which must surprise many who rush to 

 show their ideas of development in various departments, 

 calling it Darwinianism, and not distinguishing that from 

 evolution ; Lord Monboddo does his part coolly, slowly, 

 and deliberately, like a man who did not expect to be 

 believed soon. 



Gradation in animals Dr. White saw clearly, but he 

 refused to believe in development from species to species, 

 and distinctly stigmatised Lord Monboddo's ideas as out of 

 the pale of reason, .as so many have done after him. It 

 could not be expected that reasoning such as Darwin's 

 should be ripened last century when vegetable and animal 

 anatomy were so little advanced ; but reasoning with the 

 instruments at hand was clear in the mind of Monboddo ; 

 it was no mere sentence or clause of a sentence that he 

 gave to the public, but a full-grown system up to a certain 

 point. He begins with development of thought, and pro- 

 ceeds to his main point, development of language. It is 

 difficult to imagine that a similar series of thoughts should 

 have grown in society without giving Lord Monboddo 

 credit or discredit for his part. 



Dr. White proceeded more on that method of reasoning 

 which may be called scientific in opposition to philosophic 

 so far as this, that he did not go beyond that which he saw 

 before him. This by some men is held to be the true 

 scientific method, and it is enough for a large class of such 

 for example as have a short vision, a useful class of men, 



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