318 OWEN'S POSITION IN 



of the doctrine of evolution. On the speculative 

 side, the very same mind has a distinct leaning 

 towards realistic mysticism, while remaining 

 liberally, perhaps prodigally, eclectic. A subli- 

 mated Theism, after the manner of Cudworth, 

 lies at the foundation of Owen's speculations ; 

 while the 'Archetype' takes the position of a 

 Platonic iSea, indeed, almost that of an Alexan- 

 drian \6yos. The essentially naturalistic abstrac- 

 tions — ' secondary causes,' ' forces,' and ' polarity ' 

 — are personified and regarded as agents. 



If, in the ' Nature of Limbs' (pp. 84, 85), the 

 argument from Design is momentarily shattered 

 by the admission that some parts of animals are 

 ' made in vain ; ' it is immediately redintegrated 

 by the suggestion that they are illustrations of the 

 design manifested in the ' Archetype.' The look- 

 ing to ' natural laws ' and ' secondary causes ' for 

 the ' progression ' of ' organic phenomena ' is the 

 substantial acceptance of evolution, as set forth 

 by Goethe, Oken, Lamarck, and Geoffroy ; but 

 the picture of ' Nature,' advancing ' amidst the 

 wreck of worlds,' fits in, no less admirably, with 

 the catastrophism of Cuvier. 



Owen's morphological labours appear to me to 

 be completely pervaded by the spirit, and restricted 

 to the methods, of the philosophical anatomists ; 

 if I may, for the nonce, use that name in a limited 

 sense, for the scholars of Oken, rather than for 

 those of Geoffroy. But, from this point of view, 



