299 
REVIEWS. 
DARWIN’S LATEST BOOK.* 
T HEBE are not a few, even among Mr. Darwin’s most enthusiastic ad- 
mirers, who consider that the present work is the least attractive of the 
many volumes which the author of the “ Origin of Species ” has given to the 
public. V And we agree with them to a certain extent, but only so far as the 
book possesses little to interest a general reader. Those who look on a vast 
piece of architectural workmanship, if they are of the general crowd, come away 
with but the vaguest idea of the building they have been looking at. What 
care they for the tremendous labour and the important skill which must 
have been displayed in the putting together of the various stones which 
make up its entirety. So likewise we fancy that of the many — and they are 
by no means exclusively men of science — who are lavish in their admiration 
of Mr. Darwin’s writings, there are not a few who consider that this work 
on the domestication of animals and plants, while it may have cost a vast 
amount of time and labour in its execution, is nevertheless devoid of the 
interest belonging to other works by the same author. With the naturalist, 
however, the position is different. He can see at a glance how vast is the 
amount of evidence which the author has here collected in support of his 
doctrine of the evolution of races. The whole time of mankind on 
the earth is but a unit compared with the vastness of the period during 
which life has been upon the globe. Yet of the period of man alone, how 
far have we any evidence that is of value ? Say about 3,000 years. That 
is to say, that we have personal observation — as in the records of ancient 
Egypt — which extends back about 3,000 years, and which shows us that 
certain animals — the dog, for example — had been bred a3 he is now. We 
must admit, then, how extremely difficult is the task of the natural historian 
who endeavours to find out within this period evidence which will be con- 
clusive as to the tendency of animals and plants to vary, and by means of 
natural selection to have eventually certain species preserved as being the 
best adapted to the circumstances, while others as certainly “ go to the 
wall ” in the struggle for life, and are thus lost to posterity. 
Still, small as the time relatively is, it is wonderful how much material Mr. 
Darwin has collected in these two volumes. Of course, having reviewed this 
* “The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.” By Charles 
Darwin, M.A., F.B.S. Second Edition, 2 vols. London : John Murray. 
