xviii Historical Sketch. 



what.' " He amplifies this idea by adding, that when such cases 

 as that of the Red Grouse are " enumerated by the zoologist as 

 evidence of distinct creation of the bird in and for such islands, he 

 chiefly expresses that he knows not how the Red Grouse came to 

 be there, and there exclusively ; signifying also, by this mode of 

 expressing such ignorance, his belief that both the bird and the 

 islands owed their origin to a great first Creative Cause." If we 

 interpret these sentences given in the same Address, one by the 

 other, it appears that this eminent philosopher felt in 1858 his con- 

 fidence shaken that the Apteryx and the Red Grouse first appeared 

 in their respective homes, " he knew not how," or by some process 

 " he knew not what." 



This Address w T as delivered after the papers, by Mr. Wallace and 

 myself on the Origin of Species, presently to be referred to, had been 

 read before the Linnean Society. When the first edition of this 

 work was published, I was so completely deceived, as were many 

 others, by such expressions as " the continuous operation of creative 

 power," that I included Professor Owen with other palaeontologists 

 as being firmly convinced of the immutability of species ; but it 

 appears ('Anat. of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. 796) that this was on 

 my part a preposterous error. In the last edition of this work I 

 inferred, and the inference still seems to me perfectly just, from a 

 passage beginning with the words " no doubt the type-form," &c. 

 (Ibid. vol. i. p. xxxv.), that Professor Owen admitted that natural 

 selection may have done something in the formation of new 

 species ; but this it appears (Ibid. vol. iii. p. 798) is inaccurate and 

 without evidence. I also gave some extracts from a correspondence 

 between Professor Owen and the Editor of the * London Review,' 

 from which it appeared manifest to the Editor as well as to myself, 

 that Professor Owen claimed to have promulgated the theory of 

 natural selection before I had done so ; and I expressed my surprise 

 and satisfaction at this announcement ; but as far as it is possible 

 to understand certain recently published passages (Ibid. vol. iii. 

 p. 798), I have either partially or wholly again fallen into error. 

 It is consolatory to me that others find Professor Owen's controver- 

 sial writings as difficult to understand and to reconcile with each 

 other, as I do. As far as the mere enunciation of the principle of 

 natural selection is concerned, it is quite immaterial whether or 

 not Professor Owen preceded me, for both of us, as shown in this 

 historical sketch, were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells and Mr. 

 Matthews. 



M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, in his Lectures delivered in 

 1850 (of wnich a Resume' appeared in the ' Revue et Mag. de 



