448 LECTURE XVI. 



time tte organic world is destroyed, after which a new crea- 

 tion takes place after an improved plan by a divine "fiat." 



I have already stated that the idea of a Creator, who from 

 time to time destroys the furniture of the earth, and supplies a 

 new one, was repugnant to my notions. I said No ! I cannot 

 believe this. But as I had no better theory to offer, I was 

 obliged to confess, like Kiinol, the professor of Theology at 

 Giessen, who, having lectured for a fortnight on the resurrec- 

 tion of Christ, during which time he had exhausted the mani- 

 fold hypotheses of theologians on that subject, concluded as 

 follows : " To tell the truth, gentlemen, I must confess we 

 know nothing at all about it.'" 



Darwin starts from the mutabihty of types. He instances 

 not merely the domestic, but also wild animals and plants in 

 support of his theory. In the struggle for existence, he con- 

 tends, every animal must endeavour to attain that relative 

 perfection which enables it to sustain that struggle. The 

 transmission of characters, which is undeniable, and even that 

 of individual characters, which is also established, renders it 

 possible that such peculiarities, which are advantageous to this 

 struggle, may also be transmitted to, and further developed in 

 the offspring. There thus arises a breed by natural selection, 

 which in some privileged individuals acquires a particular fixed 

 type. In this manner, that is to say, by continued and unin- 

 terrupted transmission arise new varieties, races, and species ; 

 and as this transformation process is continued through long 

 periods of time, the production of such natural selections may, 

 at last, so much deviate from each other, that they represent 

 genera, families, orders, classes, and kingdoms. 



It is not surprising that Darwin^s theory, of which I have 

 given you but an imperfect sketch, has excited much opposi- 

 tion. Coarse attacks were directed against this naturalist, the 

 author of sterling works. At present, the opponents have given 

 up refutino- ; for as there is much in this theory that cannot 

 be refuted, they confine themselves to calling Dai-win's theory 

 a dream, an ingenious hypothesis, a dazzling firework, and 

 think they have done for a work fraught with such momentous 

 consequences. 



