96 WHAT IS DARWINISM? 



The Opponents of Darwinism. 

 The Duke of Argyll. 

 When cultivated men undertake to refute a 

 certain system, it is to be presumed that they 

 give themselves the trouble to ascertain what 

 that system is. As the advocates of Mr. Dar- 

 win's theory defend and applaud it because it 

 excludes design, and as its opponents make 

 that the main ground of their objection to it, 

 there can be no reasonable doubt as to its real 

 character. The question is, How are the con- 

 trivances in nature to be accounted for ? One 

 answer is, They are due to the purpose of God. 

 Mr. Darwin says, They are due to the gradual 

 and undesigned accumulation of slight varia- 

 tions. The Duke's first objection to that doc- 

 trine is, that the evidence of design in the or- 

 gans of plants and animals is so clear that Mr. 

 Darwin himself cannot avoid using teleological 

 language. " He exhausts," he says, " every 

 form of words and of illustration by which 

 intention or mental purpose can be described. 

 ' Contrivance,' ' beautiful contrivance,' ' curious 

 contrivance,' are expressions which occur over 

 and over again. Here is one sentence de- 

 scribing a particular species (of orchids) : ' The 



