308 |Mr. A. R. Wallace on the Origin of Species. 



to the unaltered condition of the ass, the ostrich, and the cat 

 for 3000 years," &c. The first part of this sentence is so com- 

 pletely out of the pale of grammatical construction, that I must 

 conclude Mr. Haughton writes a very bad hand, and did not 

 correct the proofs. But, so far from Mr. Darwin denying his 

 opponents the use of the facts above alluded to, he himself offers 

 them far stronger ones, in the many species of shells which have 

 lived unchanged since the middle tertiary epochs, and of mam- 

 mals whose remains are found in beds which testify that they 

 have survived important changes of the earth's surface. No 

 one who understands the theory of natural selection will imagine 

 that these facts are in any way opposed to it. 



The second supposed " unwarrantable assumption " is, " That 

 the causes of variation, viz. natural advantage in the struggle for 

 existence (Darwin), are sufficient to account for the effects asserted 

 to be produced." There certainly never was a more unwarrant- 

 able assertion made, than that Darwin assigned " natural ad- 

 vantage in the struggle for existence " as " the cause of varia- 

 tion." Darwin over and over again declares that the cause of 

 variation is unknown (Origin of Species, pp. 8, 38), though the 

 fact is certain and undeniable. Natural selection, acting through 

 advantage in the struggle for existence, accumulates favourable 

 variations, but in no sense causes them. This is the very foun- 

 dation of Mr. Darwin's theory ; yet even this is misunderstood 

 or misrepresented by Mr. Haughton. 



The third " unwarrantable assumption " charged upon Mr. 

 Darwin is, " That succession implies causation" " that the Palaeo- 

 zoic Cephalopoda produced the Bed- Sandstone fishes," " that 

 these in turn gave birth to the Liassic reptiles," &c. &c. Now 

 those who have read the ' Origin of Species ' know that such 

 absurd doctrines as these are nowhere taught there ; and I can 

 only say to those who have not read it that I challenge them or 

 Mr. Haughton to produce any passages which will bear such a 

 meaning. 



In conclusion, it is asserted " that naturalists who have ac- 

 cepted by multitudes the new theory of the origin of species 

 are, as a class, untrained in the use of the logical faculties, which, 

 however, they may be charitably supposed to possess in common 

 with other men." This is the judgment of the Rev. S. Haughton 

 on such men as Lyell, Hooker, Lubbock, Huxley, and Asa Gray. 

 A perusal of his paper, with the remarks I have now made upon 

 it, will enable any one to judge how far Mr. Haughton himself 

 possesses those " logical faculties " which he is half inclined to 

 deny to the mass of British naturalists. There are several other 

 minor points in his paper which might be alluded to ; but it has 

 already occupied as much space as it deserves, and I will only. 



