I 275 ) 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Foundations of the Origin of Species ; a Sketch written in 

 1842 by Charles Darwin. Edited by his son, Francis 

 Darwin. Cambridge : Printed at the University Press. 



This Essay has been printed by the Syndics of the Cambridge 

 University Press for presentation to the Delegates of Universities 

 and other learned Societies attending the celebration at Cam- 

 bridge on June 22nd of the centenary of the birth of Charles 

 Darwin, and of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the 

 1 Origin of Species.' We read that the MS. was hidden in a 

 cupboard under the stairs which was not used for papers of any 

 value, and only came to light after the death of Mrs. Darwin in 

 1896 when the house at Down was vacated. It is a digest of the 

 principles on which seventeen years later the book of the nine- 

 teenth century was to be the result. The " foundation," as it 

 has well been called, is a landmark, it indicates the evolution of 

 the 'Origin of Species,' and bears witness to the prolonged 

 patience and concentration of thought and study attending its 

 composition. Is the effect of this epoch-marking publication 

 yet fully estimated ? If its mission is considered to begin and 

 end with biology, then its force is still unappreciated, for it has 

 modified and influenced all contemporary thought even in 

 quarters where biology is a stranger. Theology was confronted 

 with the relation of man to other animals, so far at least as his 

 corporeal existence is concerned, and the survival of the fittest 

 became an axiom with the philosophical historian and the 

 practical statesman. We are familiar at all events with the 

 phrase, " The Method of Descartes," but have we sufficiently 

 appraised either the " Method of Darwin " or the subtle way in 

 which his patient construction has become a mental formula, 

 one now alike used by opponents and disciples ? Even if imagi- 

 nation may anticipate a time when his conclusions may be 



