THE DARWINIAN THEORY. 



93 



been harassed by every nation bordering on the sea, and by each 

 succeeding generation in an ever-increasing degree. Neverthe- 

 less, no serious diminution in their numbers has yet been 

 proved, even though the great array of international workers 

 have been striving to this end. Everything in their mode of 

 reproduction and in their surroundings is so advantageous to 

 their safety and endurance. No less striking is the fact that, 

 though the pelagic eggs and sperms of several species commingle 

 in the ocean, no crossing occurs.] 



Pictet, the celebrated palaeontologist, of Geneva, allows that 

 species are not immutable in modern times, but demurs to 

 having the principle much extended. The law of extinction of 

 certain types is also admitted by most naturalists, though 

 adverse to this theory of Darwin's. Professor Owen, for ex- 

 ample, mentions a remarkable instance of gradual extinction in 

 modern times in the case of the Great Auk, which has not been 

 specially hunted down like the Dodo, but by degrees has become 

 more and more scarce. The influence of man also not un- 

 frequently causes extinction ; thus the Dodo, a large bird allied 

 to the Pigeons, once inhabiting the Mauritius, Rhytina stelleri, a 

 kind of Manatee formerly abounding on the coasts at Behring's 

 Strait, the Capercailzie* in Britain, and probably also the Irish 

 Elk, are examples that have become extinct more or less through 

 man's agency. Even now there are species whose numbers are 

 daily diminishing under the same hand, viz. the Wapiti or 

 Canadian Deer, the Ibex of the Alps, the Bearded Vulture, the 

 Bison, Beaver, and Wild Turkey. 



This " Natural Selection," say his opponents, rests on a 

 purely conjectural basis. They bring forward the remarkable 

 case of alternation of generation in Campanularia, which pro- 

 duces a bell-shaped Medusa or jelly-fish, from the eggs of which 

 the hydroid stock arises, and ask in such a case, " Have the 

 parent forms become extinct ? " Cuvier also, while admitting 

 variation, affirmed that the capacity to vary proceeds only to 

 a certain point. 



Admitting that structure, instinct, and habit vary, it ma} 7 

 be asked, Why do they vary together and harmoniously instead 

 of vaguely? The Darwinians allow they cannot tell. The 



* Now reintroduced. 



