LINN^US. 83 



This is, however, the case only with those to whom the 

 miracle of creation is absolutely without existence; 

 whereas an observer, who regards any miracle, however 

 slight, or any sort of disturbance of the order of nature, 

 as possible, must deem his science of Biology complete 

 with the erudition formerly propounded, and subse- 

 quently extended by countless items of special informa- 

 tion. We cannot therefore do otherwise than give to 

 Goethe's maxim, " Belief is not the beginning, but the 

 end of all knowledge,'' the interpretation that belief is 

 incompatible with knowledge, and that hence belief in a 

 creation of life is incompatible with the investigation 

 of it. 



But if Life did not originate in an incomprehensible 

 manner, it must have been developed. Many decades 

 elapsed before this idea with its consequences could be 

 stated; and in order to comprehend the obstinacy with 

 which the contrary was maintained, and a circle of opin- 

 ions allowed to take root, against which modern Biology 

 alone has waged a successful war, it is necessary to 

 call to mind some of the chief epochs in the history of 

 Geology, and their representatives. This will naturally 

 lead us to the point whence the shaft of knowledge has 

 been sunk. 



After the middle of the last century. Comparative 

 Anatomy, almost independently of systematic Zoology, 

 took a prosperous course, and became far richer in ideas 

 than this descriptive Natural History. One of its max- 

 ims, however, was accepted without examination — the 

 constancy and immutability of species; and this maxim 

 forms the centre of the views entertained by Linnaeus. 

 The continued authority of this great describer of Na- 



