60 WHAT IS DARWINISM t 



he says, "go on for millions of years," and 

 we shall at last have a perfect eye. 



It would be absurd to say anything disre- 

 spectful of such a man as Mr. Darwin, and 

 scarcely less absurd to indulge in any mere ex- 

 travagance of language ; yet we are express- 

 ing our own experience, when we say that we 

 regard Mr. Darwin's books ' the best refutation 

 of Mr. Darwin's theory. He constantly shuts 

 us up to the alternative of believing that the 

 eye is a work of design or the product of the 

 unintended action of blind physical causes. 

 To any ordinarily constituted mind, it is ab- 

 solutely impossible to believe that it is not a 

 work of design. Darwin himself, it is evi- 

 dent, dear as his theory is, can hardly believe 

 it. " It is indispensable," he says, " to ar- 

 rive at a just conclusion as to the formation 

 of the eye, that the reason should conquer 

 the imagination ; but I have felt the difficulty 

 far too keenly to be surprised at any degree 

 of hesitation in extending the principle of 

 natural selection to so startling an extent." (p. 

 225) 



the single passage quoted, he speaks of Natural Selection "as 

 intently watching " " picking out with unerring skill," and " care- 

 fully preserving." It is true, he tells us this is all to be under- 

 stood metaphorically. 



