LINNAZUS, 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, how- 
ever 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 
subsequently extended by countless items of special in- 
formation. 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 
opinions 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 
maxims, however, was accepted without examination— 
the constancy and immutability of species; and this 
maxim forms the centre of the views entertained by 
Linnzus. The continued authority of this great de- 
