STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION AT ISSUE. 95 



Let us suppose a notorious burglar found in posses- 

 sion of a jemmy ; it is admitted on all hands that he 

 will use it as soon as he gets a chance ; there is no 

 doubt about this ; how perverted should we not con- 

 sider the ingenuity of one who tried to persuade us 

 we were wrong in thinking that the burglar com- 

 passed the possession of the jemmy by means involv- 

 ing ideas, however vague in the first instance, of 

 applying it to its subsequent function. 



If any one could be found so blind to obvious 

 inferences as to accept natural selection, " or the pre- 

 servation of favoured machines," as the main means 

 of mechanical modification, we might suppose him to 

 argue much as follows : — " I can quite understand," 

 he would exclaim, "how any one who reflects upon 

 the originally simple form of the earliest jemmies, and 

 observes the developments they have since attained in 

 the hands of our most accomplished housebreakers, 

 might at first be tempted to believe that the present 

 form of the instrument has been arrived at by long- 

 continued improvement in the hands of an almost 

 infinite succession of thieves ; but may not this infer- 

 ence be somewhat too hastily drawn ? Have we any 

 right to assume that burglars work by means analo- 

 gous to those employed by other people ? If any 

 thief happened to pick up any crowbar which hap- 

 pened to be ever sueh a little better suited to his 

 purpose than the one he had been in the habit of 

 using hitherto, he would at once seize and carefully 

 preserve it. If it got worn out or broken he would 

 -begin , searching for a crowbar as like as possible to 



