1884.] 
65 
Professor Huxley's Darwinism . 
the Porto Santo rabbit did not “ as certainly originate since 
the year 1420,” as Mr. Darwin believes. 
But the strongest argument (to many readers) against the 
validity of Prof. Huxley’s objection is yet to be mentioned, 
namely, that Mr. Darwin himself, so far from believing that 
his theory would be utterly shattered by the everlasting 
failure to obtain the desideratum, insisted on more than one 
occasion— even in the very first edition of the “ Origin of 
Species that as domestication (I do not mean mere 
confinement) apparently tends to eliminate sterility, we 
ought not to expeft it also to produce sterility” (p.461): 
again, he writes — “ Some eminent naturalists believe that a 
long course of domestication tends to eliminate sterility in 
the successive generations of hybrids which are at first only 
slightly sterile ; and if this be so, we surely ought not to 
expedt to find sterility both appearing and disappearing 
under the same conditions of life ” (p. 269 ; in 6th ed., pp. 
2 57 > 263* an d 405). These quotations are utterly ignored 
by Prof. Huxley, who adtually declares that “ Mr. Darwin 
is perfedtly aware of this weak point ” (“ Lay Sermons.” 
p. 295).* 
“ Certain naturalists,” writes Mr. Darwin, “ have recently 
laid too great stress, as it appears to me, on the difference 
between varieties and species when crossed,” so he forthwith 
proceeds to levy an ingenious argument against these ano- 
nymous naturalists (“ Variation under Domestication,” ii., 
J 74 > I 75 )- He enquires, “ Why, then, should these [differ- 
ences in fertility] be thought of such paramount importance 
in comparison with other incidental and functional differ- 
ences ? No sufficient answer to this question can be given.” 
Mark, en passant, Mr. Darwin’s dogmatic style. 
Now the circumstance that “ there is no certain evidence 
of offspring ever having been produced by a male and 
female mule ” (“ Lay Sermons,” p. 272) seems to be the 
corner-stone of the desideratum. It may not be the hap- 
piest illustration, for the horse and ass belong to different 
genera. Possibly the progeny of horses and rhinoceroses, or 
horses and hippopotami, are sterile. 
But supposing a skilful physiologist rendered an imaginary 
extant common ancestor of the horse and ass the bifurcating 
* In the “Variation under Domestication,” Mr. Darwin remarks that the 
fertility of the varieties of domestic animals, when crossed inter sc “ is 
extraordinary,” but “ not so extraordinary as it at first appears ” (ii.,' 82) 
Cf. “Origin of Species,” p. 256, to same effecSt ; also p. 236. Miss Arabella 
B. Buckley in her counterfeit presentation of the desideratum adopts a similar 
procedure. 
