[22 



Species; or, Darwinism. 



ments, as to consider this specimen of logic a 

 rudiment of some better state of philosophy and 

 thought, which may have graced the hapless scion 

 in its ancestry. Indeed, stretching our imagination 

 backward, to use Mr. Tyndall's happy phrase, " be- 

 yond the experimental boundaries," we may be 

 permitted to discern the secret of its birth. And 

 if so, we cannot fail to see that, child as it must be 

 with some ancestry or other, possibly at some point 

 of palaeontology it had a noble sire. 



We have finished with the idea of species, and 

 also of race. Having been discursive enough to 

 think now of closing, we shall add a few words on 

 the other Darwinian terms, and leave to the next 

 chapter all that remains of the criticism on Life, 

 Cells, and Evolution. 



133. To finish the terms which occur in the present 

 question, we may mention that there are cross- 

 breeds between races, and, in spite of 

 the natural sterility so often spoken of, 

 there are cross-breeds between species. 



The former, which are abundant in nature, are 

 called Mongrels; the latter, which are rare, go by 

 the name of Hybrids. 



134. From this it appears that the test of natural 

 sterility is, as Dr. Romanes puts it, neither abso- 

 lutely constant, nor constantly absolute. Never- 

 theless, as a test for the question of the possible 

 descent of species, it remains quite uncompromis- 

 ing, for all practical purposes. This is brought out 



Hybrids and 

 Mongrels. 



