22 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



lutionist interpretation. There are no locks which 

 its key does not fit. As there is often misunder- 

 standing in regard to the so-called " evidences of 

 evolution," we must note that Darwin's magistral 

 work was not of the nature of an induction leading 

 up to the doctrine of descent as its conclusion. 

 It was a deductive vindication of the doctrine 

 that he gave us — " a cumulative justification 

 showing how well the formula fits a vast series of 

 facts." We cannot agree with the statement 

 that Darwin proved in 1859 what Lamarck had 

 only suggested fifty years before/ for there is no 

 logical 'proof of the doctrine of descent. It must 

 be allowed, however, that Darwin's illustrations — 

 what some would call his cumulative evidence — 

 were so carefully chosen that they left few openings 

 for effective criticism. The basis of fact which 

 the formula was shown to fit was solid, broad, and 

 representative. 



(a) Darwin pointed to the evolution which is 

 going on in domesticated animals, such as sheep 

 and cattle, and in cultivated plants, such as 

 cabbages and apples, and used the argument : If 

 Man has been instrumental in fixing all these 

 varieties in a short time, what may not Nature 

 have effected in a very long time ? This line of 

 argument has been greatly strengthened of recent 

 years by cases like De Vries's mutations of the 

 Evening Primrose {CEnothera lamarcMana). 



(&) There is significance in the broad fact that 

 it is possible to arrange the animal kingdoni in 

 a provisional genealogical tree, showing stages 

 in progressive organisation from lower to higher 



1 Lamarck's "Philosophie Zoologique" was published in 1809, 

 when Darwin was bora. 



