Grant Allen’s ‘Charles Darwin” 213 
and claims which the event has shown to be not easily 
effaced ; nor does he say that Mr. Darwin only pays these 
few words of tribute in a quasi-preface, which, though 
prefixed to his later editions of the “‘ Origin of Species,” 
is amply neutralised by the spirit which I have shown to be 
omnipresent in the body of the work itself. Moreover, Mr. 
Darwin’s statement is inaccurate to an unpardonable 
extent ; his words would be fairly accurate if applied 
to Buffon, but they do not apply to Lamarck. 
Mr. Darwin continues that Lamarck “ seems to attribute 
all the beautiful adaptations in nature, such as the long 
neck of the giraffe for browsing on the branches of trees,” 
to the effects of habit. Mr. Darwin should not say that 
Lamarck ‘‘ seems ”’ to do this. It was his business to tell 
us what led Lamarck to his conclusions, not what ‘‘ seemed” 
to do so. Any one who knows the first volume of the 
‘Philosophie Zoologique”’ will be aware that there is no 
“seems”? in the matter. Mr. Darwin’s words “‘ seem ” 
to say that it really could not be worth any practical 
naturalist’s while to devote attention to Lamarck’s argu- 
ment ; the inquiry might be of interest to antiquaries, but 
Mr. Darwin had more important work in hand than 
following the vagaries of one who had been so completely 
exploded as Lamarck had been. “Seem” is to men what 
“feel ’’? is to women; women who feel, and men who 
grease every other sentence with a “ seem,’ are alike to be 
looked on with distrust. 
“ Still,” continues Mr. Allen, ‘‘ Darwin gave no sign. A 
flaccid, cartilaginous, unphilosophic evolutionism had full 
possession of the field for the moment, and claimed, as it 
were, to be the genuine representative of the young and vigor- 
ous biological creed, while he himself was in truth the real 
heir to all the honours of the situation. He was in posses- 
sion of the master-key which alone could unlock the bars 
that opposed the progress of evolution, and still he waited. 
He could afford to wait. He was diligently collecting, amass- 
