122 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
the hot contest for truth the name of Darwin is the watch- 
word to the advocates of the natural theory of development, 
his merits are inaccurately appreciated on both sides, for 
some persons overestimate them as much as others under- 
estimate them. 
His merit is overestimated when he is regarded as the 
founder of the Theory of Descent, or of the whole of the 
Theory of Development. We have seen from the historical 
sketch in this and the preceding chapters, that the Theory of 
Development, as such, is not new; all philosophers who have 
refused to be led captive by the blind dogma of a super- 
natural creation, have been compelled to assume a natural 
development. But the Theory of Descent constituting the 
specially biological part of the universal Theory of Develop- 
ment, had already been so clearly expressed by Lamarck, 
and carried out so fully by him to its most important con- 
sequences, that we must honour him as the real founder of 
it. Hence it is only the Theory of Selection, and not that 
of Descent, which may be called Darwinism; but this is 
in itself of so much importance, that its value can scarcely 
be overestimated. 
Darwin’s merit is naturally underestimated by all his 
opponents. “But it is scarcely possible in this matter to 
point to scientific opponents, who are entitled by profound 
biological culture to pronounce an opinion. For among all 
the works opposed to Darwin and the Theory of Descent yet 
published, with the exception of that of Agassiz, not one 
deserves consideration, much less refutation; all have so 
evidently been written either without thorough knowledge 
of biological facts, or without a clear philosophical under- 
standing of the question in hand. We need not trouble 
