390 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



diflBcult not to take him more seriously than he deserves 

 or perhaps desires. One would think that Mr. Butler 

 was the travelled and laborious observer of Nature, and 

 Mr. Darwin the pert speculator, who takes all his facts 



at secondhand." 



« « « * * 



" Let us once more consider how matters stood a year 

 or two before the 'Origin of Species' first appeared. 

 The continuous evolution of animated Nature had in its 

 favour the difficulty of drawing fixed lines between 

 species and even larger divisions, all the indications of 

 comparative anatomy and embryology, and a good deal 

 of general scientific presumption. Several well-known 

 writers, and some eminent enough to command respect, 

 had expressed their belief in it. One or two far-seeing 

 thinkers, among whom the place of honour must be 

 assigned to Mr. Herbert Spencer, had done more. They 

 had used their philosophic insight, which, to science, is 

 the eye of faith, to descry the promised land almost within 

 reach ; they knew and announced how rich and spacious 

 the heritage would be, if once the entry could be made 

 good. But on that ' if ' everything hung. Nature was 

 not bound to give up her secret, or was bound only in a 

 mocking covenant with an impossible condition : Si 

 ccelum digito tetigeris; if only some fortunate hand 

 could touch the inaccessible firmament, and bring down 

 the golden chain to earth ! But fruition seemed out of 

 sight. Even those who were most willing to advance in 

 this direction, could only regret that they saw no road 

 clear. There was a tempting vision, but nothing proven 

 — many would have said nothing provable. A few years 



