PROFESSOR HUXLEY'S VIEWS ON EVOLUTION 211 



rudiment of the fifth digit in the hind foot ; while, in still older forms, the series of the digits will be more and more 

 complete, until we come to the five-toed animals, in which, if the doctrine of evolution is well founded, the whole 

 series must have taken its origin. The only way of escape, if it be a way of escape, from the conclusions which I 

 have just indicated, is the supposition that all these different equine forms have been created separately at separate 

 epochs of time." 



The several points touched upon in the present coimection are illustrated in various parts of the work, such as 

 the non-variability and permanency of the human type in Egypt ; the ancient extinct reptiles (Dinosaurs, &c.) ; 

 the extinct flying reptiles (Pterodactyls) ; the extinct birds ; the supposed ancient extinct horses ; and the 

 extinct mammals. Numerous examples of typical modern birds and mammals occur everywhere, and need not 

 be specified. 



It is not necessary to discuss the subject of evolution further in this place ; suffice it to say that one of its 

 phases, and that perhaps the most important, has not been dealt with. I refer to the teleological aspect of evolu- 

 tion. This lies at the root of the whole matter. The question naturally arises. From what materials, by what means, 

 and for what purposes have the great races of plants and animals been produced ? Are they accidental chance pro- 

 ducts, or are they the work of an intelUgent First Cause and deliberate design ? I personally advocate the latter 

 view. It appears to me to afford the only possible explanation of the facts. Plants and animals, as already 

 stated, are not automata. They are not self-made, self-adjusting, and self-directing machines. On the contrary, 

 and as has been pointed out, they are created, designed organisms, which have the power of performing (imder 

 guidance) a great variety of functions which no mere mechanical contrivance could possibly accomplish. There 

 is, in fact, a great gulf between the mechanical dead machine, which only goes so long as it is wound up from the 

 outside, and the living organism, which goes on practically indefinitely, and winds itself up from within. In the one 

 case everything is haphazard and mechanical. In the other everything is predetermined, and there is an obvious 

 adaptation of means to ends. 



If the term evolution is to be regarded as representing gradual progressive advance from lower to higher plat- 

 forms, it is evident it must be freed of everything which, even indirectly, savours of accident. It can only claim 

 to be the expression of a First Cause and of deUberate design where the end is seen from the beginning, where 

 everything is pre-determined, and where law and order reign supreme. Evolution, if it means anything, can only 

 mean the unfolding, in strict sequence, of a multitude of facts, none of which are the result of accident. Evolu- 

 tion, if admitted at all, must mean the orderly unfolding of everything the world contains, and it must rest ultimately 

 on utilitarianism as a base. The greatest good would then be its rallying cry and watchword. The why and the 

 wherefore would be both explained. Everything which exists has been created for a definite purpose, so that the 

 great subject of teleology is vindicated even in its most minute details. Utility is, after all, the touchstone of the 

 universe. 



The subject of teleology has been relegated most unfairly and ignorantly to the limbo of neglect, but there are 

 indications that it and design (which go hand in hand) will, before many decades, be reinstated in their places of 

 honour, and bring men's minds back to the fold from which, with great danger to themselves, they have temporarily 

 strayed. 



What is here stated will be readily understood from what follows, where I furnish certain details bearing 

 generally on the subject of evolution. 



Plants and animals, as I have striven to prove, are never chance products, and the influence of surrounding 

 matter is never sufficient of itself to produce an animal, or any part thereof. 



While plants and animals vary within limits they will, as a rule, if left to themselves, and allowed to breed 

 back, revert to their originals. The so-called variations will disappear. 



Plants and animals are endowed with original constitutions which are amazingly stable : the permanence 

 of type has never been satisfactorily or sufficiently explained. Professor Huxley himself, while endeavouring to 

 account for the want of change in ancient Egyptian animals for periods of three or four thousand years by sajdng 

 that the external conditions in Egypt did not vary during the time stated, yet admits that in America (Goat 

 Island and Falls of Niagara) fossil shells are found of exactly the same species as those inhabiting Lake Erie at 

 the present day, and on which no visible change can be detected for a period exceeding, in his opinion, in all 

 probability, thirty thousand years. 



Whatever may be said in favour of stabiUty as a result of want of change in chmate and surroundings in 

 Egypt cannot possibly apply to America, where the vicissitudes of climate and environment are avowedly very con- 

 siderable. With stabihty and permanency in hving forms for periods of thirty thousand or more years, it is safe 

 to assert that original constitution and type are factors of the utmost importance in the scheme of creation, and 



