president's address. 299 



have diminished in size, in accordance with the well-known law 

 of atrophy following upon disuse of any organ. And considera- 

 tions equally cogent, but upon which time will not now allow us 

 to enter, might, I think be urged against other of Mr. Wallace's 

 propositions. 



But it does not appear that there is anything altogether ex- 

 ceptional about the phenomena which he thus withdraws from 

 the sphere of Natural Selection, and it at once occurs to us to 

 ask, why, if some unexplained matters in the genetic history 

 of man are to be ascribed to the action of unknown influ- 

 ences—why may not like difficulties, of which there are not a 

 few in the history of the lower animals, be similarly dealt with ? 

 It does not indeed seem clear how far Mr. Wallace is inclined to 

 believe the development of man to be under the control of na- 

 tural law at all, for he goes on to say : "At the same time I 

 must confess that my theory has the disadvantage of requiring 

 the intervention of some distinct individual intelligence to aid in 

 the production of what we can hardly avoid considering as the 

 ultimate aim and outcome of all organized existence — intellec- 

 tual, ever-advancing, spiritual man. It therefore implies that 

 the great laws which govern the material universe were insuffi- 

 cient for his production, unless we consider (as we may fairly 

 do) that the controlling action of such higher intelligences is a 

 necessary part of those laws, just as the action of all surround- 

 ing organisms is one of the agencies in organic development." 

 It seems to me, if I rightly understand this passage, that Mr. 

 Wallace has here got into difficulties by withdrawing from the 

 rest of the universe that " supreme intelligence" which he holds 

 to have been necessary for the production of man, and that he 

 has thus introduced a sense of discordance which was not inhe- 

 rent in the subject. He seems, too, to be inconsistent in this 

 respect, for his whole argument on a later page is directed to 

 prove the existence of one supreme will manifesting itself in 

 perfect law, and certainly, though in many instances we cannot 

 yet trace the workings of that law, we need not on that ac- 

 count seek a refuge in supernaturalism, as we must do if we 

 believe with Mr. Wallace, that "the great laws which govern 



