THIRD day's sitting. 75 



dencies in each germ are towards the development of the 

 ultimate form, whatever that form may be. A dog-germ 

 will become a dog, a bat-germ a bat, a seal-germ a seal, a 

 reptile-germ a reptile, and a human-germ a man, in spite 

 of Mr. Darwin and the rising naturalists. They might as 

 well attempt to pluck the sun from the heavens as to 

 change this order of things. 



Darwin. " In order," my Lord, " to understand the 

 existence of rudimentary organs, we have only to suppose 

 that a former progenitor possessed the parts in question in 

 a perfect state, and that, under changed habits of life, they 

 became greatly reduced, either from simple disuse, or 

 through the Natural Selection of those individuals which 

 were least encumbered with a superfluous part, aided by 

 the other means previously indicated." (Vol. i. p. 32.) 



Lord G. That is just the difficulty, Mr. Darwin. If we 

 suppose a former progenitor of man, we suppose your 

 hypothesis to be true, and thus make it prove itself. We 

 take for granted the point in dispute, in order to prove the 

 point in dispute. This is mere reasoning in a circle. We 

 cannot suppose a former progenitor until you prove this 

 former progenitor to have really existed. 



Darwin. " Thus we can understand," my Lord, "how it 

 has come to pass that man, and all other vertebrate 

 animals, have been constructed on the same general model, 

 why they pass through the same early stages of develop- 

 ment, and why they retain certain rudiments in common. 

 Consequently, we ought frankly to admit their community 

 of descent : to take any other view is to admit that our 

 own structure, and that of all the animals around us, is a 

 mere snare laid to entrap our judgment." (Vol. i. p. 32.) 



Homo. I have read, my Lord, in an old book, about the 

 " wise being taken in their own craftmess." If there be a 



F 2 



