886 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Are we correct (we would inquire of the thoughtful reader), when we 
say that the debated controversy of the “ Origin of Species ” has assumed 
somewhat of this aspect to one who belongs to neither rank of con- 
troversialists? 
Leaving out of consideration a host of writers, who have dealt with the 
subject without understanding anything of its merits, or who have formed 
hasty or prejudiced conclusions in regard to it, we still find many illus- 
trious names rendered still more prominent by their association with that 
greatest of all nature’s problems — the creation, modification, and con- 
tinued existence of living forms; and where the leading naturalists of the 
age are found to hold diametrically opposite views, we can take but little 
credit to ourselves for having exercised caution in the expression of our 
own opinions. 
But those who have followed us in our labours will be aware that we 
have done more than to exercise self-control; we have often (no doubt to 
the dissatisfaction of our correspondents) toned down, or entirely ex- 
punged statements which assumed as undeniable facts what many unpre- 
judiced observers still regard as not proven, or even reject as error ; and 
this we have done in order that a hast} r expression of opinion on the one 
side might not call forth an acrimonious retort from the other. 
The result has been that these pages are the neutral ground upon which 
men and women holding every phase of theological and political belief 
have met without restraint, and have learned to respect one another as 
searchers after truth. And it is chiefly with a view to maintain this 
prestige that we now venture to approach a question which will not allow 
itself to be cast aside ; and upon which it is, therefore, right that 
each and all of us should bring our best judgment to bear. 
During the brief period of the existence of this Periodical, we have had 
occasion to notice three works bearing upon the subject of the “ Past and 
Present Conditions of Organic Nature all written by authors whose 
names are more or less intimately associated with the controversy ; and 
now there lies before us a fourth treatise, an unpretending little volume, 
so far as outward appearance goes, and comprising only 157 small 
widely printed pages of matter. But this little work, diminutive though 
it be in its proportions, contains the deliberately expressed convictions of a 
naturalist who is invested with great authority by virtue of his official ap- 
pointments in the educational departments of the State; and whose careful 
and untiring research gives weight to any opinions that he may think fit 
to express in public on those subjects which (to confine ourselves for the 
present to an expression of his own) tend to “ the improvement of man’s 
estate, and the widening of his knowledge.” 
* “ The Past and Present Life of the Globe.” By D. Page. Blackwood. 
(No. 1, “Popular Science Review.”) “Unite de l’Espece Humaine ” 
(Unity of the Human Species). By De Quatrefages. Hachette, Paris. 
(No. 2, “Popular Science Review.”) “On the Fertilisation of Orchids.” 
By Charles Darwin, author of the “ Origin of Species.” Murray. (No. 
5, “Popular Science Review.”) 
