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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
evidence which he could find in artificial breeding, or in nature, to show 
that animals might be and have been produced by his process of selection, 
which differ from another so widely in their structure as to constitute 
apparent species, would it not have been fair to such of his readers and 
hearers as are uninformed on the subject, to lay stress upon those obstacles 
presented by Nature herself to the amalgamation of acknowledged species \ 
Is it not a fact that the higher animals are endowed with instincts 
{functional attributes so to speak) which act as a repelling influence 
between species and prevent them from breeding at all* and are not the 
lower forms of existence (such as insects) actually furnished with append- 
ages, structural peculiarities, which render a fusion of species absolutely 
impossible ? 
Indeed, leaving the domestic animals out of the question, and putting 
that stock-example the Rock pigeon aside for a moment, we would ask 
our author whether there is any property of “ species ” in nature, any 
one of its numerous designations so prominent and immutable as the 
physiological bar to cross-breeding. This may or may not affect the 
question at issue, but when the author dwells upon the “capricious 
character of sterility,” and rakes up all the evidence he can find in favour 
of a theory which he is subjecting to a “ critical examination,” it appears 
but just to his hearers to tell them not only what is abnormal, but also 
what is almost the undeviating rule in nature. For after all it must be 
remembered that Mr. Darwin seeks to prove that new species have been 
found in nature and by natural selection ; and even if he produces a new 
species by artificial breeding, “ analogy may be a deceitful guide.” 
And now, finally, we come to the question of Man ; a subject which we 
approach with “ humility and hesitation ” akin to that which the author 
experienced when he dealt with the “ great art and mystery ” of pigeon 
breeding, and one upon which in all earnestness “ a man must not speak 
lightly.” 
The author believes that man is an improvement from some lower 
animal ; but in this he tells us that he is expressing not Mr. Darwin’s, but 
his own view ; and he proceeds, popularly and very briefly, to communicate 
to the masses his well-known opinions on this subject. 
Here, again, we confess ourselves greatly disappointed. There can be 
no doubt that the author carries with him the approval of a large number 
of the leading physiologists of the day in his views concerning the alleged 
structural differences between man and the ape ; but from the illustration 
before us we should say that it is an easier task for him to pull down an 
edifice than it is to build it up afresh with the old materials. 
Man is no longer to be judged by structural peculiarities, he tells us; 
and first he proceeds to drive his opponents out of the field before installing 
himself in their place, and introducing a new regime. 
He has been asked, he says, how he accounts for the vast intellectual 
* We lay stress upon these words, because the author does mention 
that the results of an intercrossing of species produces different results 
(when it occurs) to that of varieties. 
