102 Species; or, Darwinism. 



plasticity than others in yielding to selection and 

 forming varieties, as Mr. Darwin observed in the 

 case of the goose. But, in general, so great is the 

 power of scientific breeding, or artificial selection, 

 that, as Lord Somerville remarks of the sheep- 

 breeders in particular, " it would seem as though 

 they had chalked out upon the wall a form perfect 

 in itself, and then had given it existence." 



112. What we are saying here is so fully borne 

 out and developed further by Dr. G. Ro- 



Three Objec- . , , . 



tionsto manes, that we cannot do better than 



Natural refer here to his falling out with Mr. Dar- 



win. This extreme Darwinian had, so 

 far as we ever observed, only turned the whole 

 force of his scientific journal, Nature, with all the 

 tactics of which he was capable, towards maintain- 

 ing, defending, propounding, explaining Darwinism, 

 with a zeal more than discreet and enthusiastic, 

 rather fanatical than scientific. Yet about a couple 

 of years ago he proposed a new theory of his own, 

 called Physiological Selection, saying querulously of 

 Mr. Darwin's theory: " Natural Selection has been 

 made to pose as a theory of the origin of species, 

 whereas in point of fact it is nothing of the kind." 

 He says there are three cardinal difficulties, which 

 stand in the way of natural selection being considered 

 a theory of the origin of species. Reduced to a 

 brief compass, the difficulties stand thus: — 



j 13. The first is with respect to mutual fertility; 

 a huge difference exists here between species and 



