392 . ON SPECIES AND RACES, AND THEIR ORIGIN 
us to attempt to inquire into such matters as these; that they are 
problems beyond the reach of the human understanding. Do you 
remember what was the reply of the old philosopher to those who 
demonstrated to him so clearly the impossibility of motion? ‘ Solvitur 
ambulando, said he, and got up and walked. And so I doubt not 
that one of these days either Mr. Darwin’s hypothesis, or some other, 
will get up and walk, and that vigorously ; and so save us the trouble 
of any further discussion of this objection. 
“ Another, and unfortunately a large class of persons take fright 
at the logical consequences of such a doctrine as that put forth by 
Mr. Darwin. If all species have arisen in this way, say they—Man 
himself must have done so; and he and all the animated world must 
have had a common origin. Most assuredly. No question of it. 
“But I would ask, does this logical necessity add one single 
difficulty of importance to those which already confront us on all sides 
whenever we contemplate our relations to the surrounding universe? 
I think not. Let man’s mistaken vanity, his foolish contempt for the 
material world, impel him to struggle as he will, he strives in vain to 
break through the ties which hold him to matter and the lower forms 
of life. . 
“In the face of the demonstrable facts, that the anatomical 
difference between man and the highest of the Quadrumana is less 
than the difference between the extreme types of the Quadrumanous 
order; that, in the course of his development, man passes through 
stages which correspond to, though they are not identical with, those 
of all the lower animals; that each of us was once a minute and un- 
intelligent particle of yolk-like substance; that our highest faculties 
are dependent for their exercise upon the presence of a few cubic 
inches, more or less, of a certain gas in one’s blood; in the face of 
these tremendous and mysterious facts, I say, what matters it whether 
a new link is or is not added to the mighty chain which indissolubly 
binds us to the rest of the universe? Of what part of the glorious 
fabric of the world has man a right to be ashamed—that he is so 
desirous to disconnect himself from it? But I would rather reply to 
this strange objection by suggesting another line of thought. I would 
rather point out that perhaps the very noblest use of science as a 
discipline is, that now and then she brings us face to face with 
difficulties like these. Laden with our idols, we follow her blithely— 
till a parting in the roads appears, and she turns, and with a stern face 
asks us whether we are men enough to cast them aside, and follow 
her up the steep? Men of science are such by virtue of having 
answered her with a hearty and unreserved, Yea; by virtue of having 
