206 



HABIT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



[chap. 



I believe 

 the latter. 

 Where I 

 dissent 

 from 

 Darwin. 



T helieve 

 in a guid- 

 ing Intel- 

 ligence, 



Develop- 

 ment 

 theory, 

 not con- 

 trary to ex- 

 perience. 



Changes 

 in lan- 



guage. 



Geological 

 changes. 



minute masses of germinal matter that were once vitalized 

 by Creative Power ? ^ 



I believe they have been so derived, and in this I agree 

 with Darwin. But I must again repeat here that I am not 

 a believer in what is usually, and quite accurately, called 

 " Darwin's theory." According to Darwin and his disciple 

 Herbert Spencer,^ the laws of habit and variation are 

 sufficient to account for the whole process of modification 

 by which the most highly organized vegetables and animals 

 have been derived by descent from their first vitalized but 

 unorganized germs. I altogether differ from this : I think 

 the process of modification proves the agency of an Intel- 

 ligent Power, acting through and controlling the laws of 

 habit and variation, just as all the vital forces act through 

 and control the inorganic ones. 



But before we discuss the agency by which the modi- 

 fication has taken place, let us consider the proofs — which, 

 in my opinion, are overwhelmingly strong — that the modi- 

 fication has taken place. Several chapters, however, will 

 be required to state the proofs even in outline ; and in this 

 chapter I intend only to reply to some of the more obvious 

 and important objections. 



It is often said that any theory of the origin of species 

 by descent from other species is contrary to experience, 

 because all experience shows that every species produces 

 its own kind, and not some other. This objection is not of 

 much force. "What is true within the limits of a very short 

 experience is not necessarily true in a much longer time. 

 Thus, languages do not, at least in general, change per- 

 ceptibly in a lifetime ; but we know that they change in 

 historical time : thus, Latin has given origin to the entire 

 group of modern Eomanic languages in less than two 

 thousand years. The outlines of continents and the heights 

 of mountains are not perceptibly changeable in historical 

 times ; but we know that in geological time they are as 

 fleeting as the outlines of a cloud. So, if it is proved, as it 



1 See Note at end of chapter. 



^ In calling H. Spencer a disciple of Darwin, I do not mean to disparage 

 the great originality, or the wonderful ingenuity, of his work on Biology. 



