No. 506] DARWIN AND MUTATION Til HO U ) 



81 



polates the following rather sweeping recantation: 



There are, however, some who still think that species have , 



ferent forms; hut . a> I have attempted to show, weighty evidenn 



little advantage is gained by believing that new forms are suddenly de- 

 veloped in an inexplieahle manner from old and widely different forms, 

 over the old belief in the creation of species from the dusl of the 



In this sixth, and last, edition of the "Origin of 

 Species" Mr. Darwin devotes to the task of answering 

 criticisms made by St. George Mivart far more space 

 than he had ever allowed to any other one critic and the 

 passage just read is evidently one of those inspired by 

 Mr. Mivart 's attacks. The sore point with Mr. Darwin 

 at that time was the doctrine of natural selection and, as 

 I have already remarked, he had adopted the erroneous 

 belief that this important principle must be greatly 

 weakened if not entirely sacrificed if any form of salta- 

 tion was to be admitted in nature. He had, therefore, 

 wavered between his loyalty to his cherished hypothesis 

 and his fearless devotion to truth. By this time, how- 

 ever, he had so long contemplated the possibility of the 

 origin of new species and varieties through single long 

 steps and had had so many convincing examples brought 

 to his attention, that his hesitancy and doubt concerning 

 the validity and sufficiency of the arguments urged in 

 favor of this mode of evolution were ready to give way, 

 and I regard the passage, which I am about to quote, as a 

 virtual surrender on this point. The fact that, in ns 

 emphatic form, it was written at the close of his life, as 

 his last word on this subject, and that he must have fe t 

 that it contained a concession very damaging o ie 

 theory to the establishment of which that life had been 



devi 



>ath< 



