124? REPORT — 1872. 



scliools. IIg hoped that this provision wouki be fairly carried out, and that a due 

 proportion of time, of the scholarships, and of the exhibitions would be devoted to 

 natural science. It was only fair to say, with regard to private schools, that they 

 had little choice of action until the universities and great schools led the way. A 

 deputation of the Council had waited on Mr. Forster, to urge the importance of 

 the introduction of natural science into the elementary schools also of the couutry. 

 The Government had distinctly abandoned the principle that primary education 

 should be confined to reading, writing, and arithmetic ; but little had been effected 

 as yet for the practical introduction of scientific instruction. The experience of 

 Dean Dawes and Prof. Henslow had conclusively shown the aptitude of the 

 children for such instruction; and he rejoiced to see that the School Boards of 

 London and Liverpool had determined on the introduction of elementary science 

 into all schools under their control. If it was objected that this could only 

 amount to a smattering, it might well be asked, who has more ? Those who are 

 most advanced in knowledge know best how slight this knowledge is._ Indeed 

 every, fresh observation opens up new lines of inquiry. Every biologist would 

 admit the impulse to research which had been given by the publication of Mr. 

 Darwin's ' Origin of Species.' Yet it was surprising how much fundamental mis- 

 apprehension still surrounds Mr. Darwin's views. Tlius Browning, in one of his 

 most recent poems, said : — 



That mass man sprung from was a jelly lump 

 Once on a time ; he kept an after course 

 Tliroiigh fisli and insect, reptile, bird, or beast, 

 Till he attained to be an ape at last, 

 Or last but one. 



It was hardly necessary to point out that i^ir. Darwin would be the first to repu- 

 diate such a'tlieory. These types of structure might be derived from one origin ; 

 they were certainly not links "in one sequence. It was one thing to recognize m 

 natural selection a vera causa ; it was another to assume that all animals were 

 descended from one primordial source. As to the first alternative, he could not 

 himself feel any doubt ; and whatever conclusion might be come to as to the 

 latter, the publication of the ' Origin of Species ' would not the less have consti- 

 tuted an epoch in biology. How far the present condition of living beings was due 

 to natural selection,— how far, on the other hand, the action of natural selection 

 has been modified or checked by other natural laws, by the uualterability of types, 

 by atavism, &c.,— how many types originally came into being, whether they had 

 arisen simultaneously or successively,— these and many other similar questions 

 remained to be solved, even if we admitted the theory of natural selection. All 

 this, indeed, had been clearly pointed out by Mr. Darwin himself, and would not 

 have needed repetition but for the careless criticism by whidi, in too many cases, 

 the true question had been obscured. AVithout, however, discussing the argument 

 for and against ]\Ir. Darwin's conclusion, we so often meet with travesties of it lilce 

 that which he had quoted, that it might be worth while to consider the stages 

 through which some one group (say that of insects) had come to be what they 

 were,'assuming them to have developed from simpler organisms under the influence 

 of natural laws. The question was one of great difficulty. It was hardly neces- 

 sary to say that they cannot have passed through all the forms of animal life, and 

 the true line of development would not be agreed upon by all naturalists. Almost 

 every one would, however, admit that embryology and development were our 

 best o-nides. The various groups of Crustacea, for instance, however different 

 tlie mature conditions, were for the most part very similar when they quitted 



the e*^'"*. 



So^ao-ain, in the case of insects; the dilferenccs between the different groups of 

 insects were indeed great. The stag-beetle, the dragonfly, the moth, the bee, the 

 ant, the gnat, the grasshopper ; these, and other less familiar types, seemed at first 

 to have little indeed in common. They differed in size, in form, in colour, m 

 habits, and modes of life ; yet, following the clue of the illustrious Saviguy, it had 

 been shown, not only that they were constructed on one common plan, but that 

 other groups, such as Crustacea and Araclmida, could be shown to be fundamentally 



