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TJUi BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



75 



ch 



Were 



am. 



11: 



^7 Om 



m to 



a 



ic char 



^ a 



ganisiv 



Procesj 

 acteristi;^ 



Pcculiarit, 



they were cc; 



formati 



the subject we shall subsequently allude more in detail. 

 We must, however, now call attention to a very im- 

 portant essay by Mr, G. H. Lewes ^^ in which he promi- 

 nently develops those aspects of the doctrine which pre- 

 viously had not been sufficiently elucidated. He dwells 

 upon the extreme importance of variation or similarity 

 in external conditions in inducing living things (in 



but 



wnoft which 



we observe such a community of elementary 



a 



^^ystat substance^) to vary or resemble one another in their 



ton. The 



^ Although 



:)mg crystalsl' 

 m statement ■ 



organic forms. In one passage he says ^ :— 



observation reveals that the bond of kinship does 



really unite many divergent forms^ and the principle of 



within thek Descent with Natural Selection will account for many 



out the doctri ^^ ^^ resemblances and differences^ there is at present 



kmsarethe' ^^ warrant for assuming that all resemblances and 



titucnt organic 

 influence ofei 



Imirable tre* 



differences are due to this one cause^ but, on the 

 contrary, we are justified in assuming a deeper principle 

 which may be thus formulated : All the complex 

 organisms are evolved from organisms less complex, as 

 these were evolved from simpler forms : the link which 

 nn's has beeni^o^^ unites all organisms is not always the common bond of 

 J up a ^ ^ 1 g^ heritage, but the uniformity of organic lavjs acting under 



A\s in Animal W 



I have 



coin>'^ 



m 



I nil*'- •" ,jf 



1 *ne m^*^" ^^^ hypothesis of evolution to admit a variety of 

 >nce is ^^ ^^ origins or starting-points/ In this paper the immense 



t, stress ^r 

 adverse en j 



from their own structures and actions only, "but as the product of these 

 and the environing forces to which they are exposed.' 



^ * Darwin's Hypotheses/ in Fortnightly Review, 1 868. 



' Loc. cit, p. 370. 



be un 



derst^' 



) 



