438 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



successful antagonist to his views must pursue the same careful 

 and persistent marshalling of facts and observations ; logomachy 

 is a useless weapon. 



Kobert Chamber's ' Vestiges of Creation ' is the first book 

 mentioned in the Preface, and we find many almost forgotten 

 opponents resuscitated in these pages. Mr. Eeinheimer's attitude 

 on the question may be represented by the following quotation: — 

 " The question may be asked : How is it that the hold of the 

 Natural Selection theory upon many is such as to cause them to 

 remain satisfied with the theory ? I can explain it only by the 

 supposition that, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, 

 the idea of Providence as a compensatory law (of their principle 

 of mere expediency) lurks in the minds of these thinkers." 

 Again, the author declares that the non-consideration of certain 

 processes which he deems essential confirms him in the view 

 " that Natural Selection acts mainly by making sophists of 

 otherwise able and learned, though not always too amiable, men." 

 Had Darwin lived to the present day he would have been the 

 foremost to examine with candour and attention the views of 

 Mendel and de Vries, and he would have been the last to dis- 

 regard or ignore them ; we can also feel assured that many other 

 theories and facts would have been gathered in his web of 

 contemplation ; with what effect we know not ? But to very 

 many who accept Natural Selection as a great evolutionary 

 factor, but not as an " all-sufficient " revelation once delivered to 

 the Saints, mere disputation will not be recognized as an 

 argument either one way or tbe other. The ' Origin of Species ' 

 was the greatest book of the nineteenth century, whether its 

 teachings are accepted or denied ; to attack it, the same method 

 of reasoned fact and quiet argument must be employed — 

 Disputation pure and simple is not sufficiently convincing. 



