WHAT IS DARWINISM* 111 



the hardy plants in a plantation from among 

 the tender ones as effectually as if the intelli- 

 gence of the gardener had been operative in 

 cutting the weaker ones down." 1 If this means 

 anything, it means that as the winds and waves 

 of the Bay of Biscay can make heaps of sand, 

 so similar unconscious agencies can, if you only 

 give them time enough, make an elephant or 

 a man ; for this is what Mr. Darwin says nat- 

 ural selection has done. 



Rev. Walter Mitchell, M. A., Vice-President of 

 the Victoria Institute. 



The Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Soci- 

 ety of Great Britain, under the presidency of 

 the Earl of Shaftesbury, includes among its 

 members many of the dignitaries of the Church 

 of England, and a large number of distin- 

 guished men of different professions and de- 

 nominations. Its principal object is, " To 

 investigate fully and impartially the most im- 

 portant questions of philosophy and science, 

 but more especially those that bear on the 

 great truths revealed in Holy Scripture, with 

 the view of defending these truths against the 

 opposition of Science, falsely so called." The 



1 Lay Sermons, p. 847. 



