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ceeding any change observable on organic life under domestication, 
Mr. Darwin, conceives, and produces many illustrations in confirma- 
tion of his idea, that not only the origin of species, but the wider 
differences which distinguish genera. and all higher divisions of the 
organic kingdom may be accounted for by the same prolonged pro- 
cesses of variation and natural selection. His “ Origin of Species,” 
is no product of a rash theorist, but the result of the patient obser- 
vation and laborious experiments of a highly gifted naturalist, extend- 
ing over a period of upwards of twenty years, and—like the Reliquie 
Diluviane of Buckland,—it will be found to embody thoughts and 
facts of great permanent value, whatever be the final decision on its 
special propositions. From the high authority of the writer, his 
well-established character as an accurate observer, and the bold and 
_ startling nature of his views, it cannot be doubted that his work— 
with the promised additions to the evidence now produced,—will tend 
to re-open the whole question, and give courage to other assailants 
of those views of the permanency of species, which have seemed so 
indispensable alike to all our preconceived ideas in natural science, 
and to our interpretations of revealed cosmogony. Before Mr. 
Darwin’s “ Origin of Species’? appeared from the press, Sir Charles 
Lyell—himself no hasty or incautious doubter,—had remarked of it: _ 
“he appears to me to have succeeded by his investigations and rea- 
sonings, in throwing a flood of light on many classes of phenomena, 
connected with the affinities, geographical distribution, and geological 
succession of organic beings, for which no other hypothesis has been 
able, or has even attempted to account.” In relation to opinions 
advanced on questions of such profound interest and difficulty, by a 
distinguished naturalist, as results of the experience and observations 
of many years, our attitude ought clearly to be that of candid and 
impartial jurors. We must examine for ourselves, not reject, the 
evidence thus honestly given. The experience of the past shows how 
frequently men have contended for their own blundering interpreta- 
tions, while all the while believing themselves the champions and the 
martyrs of truth. All truthis of God, alike in relation to the natural 
and the moral law, and of the former, as truly as of the latter may we 
say: “if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought ; 
but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found 
even to fight against God.” 
But meanwhile in another, though allied direction, truth is the 
