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An Exegesis of Darwinism . [December, 
recognition of the faCt that nature evolves contrivances 
“ abhorrent to our ideas of fitness ” (p. 4 I 5) > his remark that, 
“ to my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at 
such instincts as the young cuckoo ejecting its foster 
brothers — ants making slaves — the larvae of ichneumonidae 
feeding within the live bodies of caterpillars [‘ cats playing 
with mice, otters and cormorants with living fish ’] not as 
specially endowed or created instinCts ” (p. 234 an< ^ Pos- 
thumous Essay on InstinCt” ; to his implication that the 
existence of “ many instincts causing other animals to 
suffer ” is incompatible with special creation (p. 417) ; to his 
letter to N. D. Doedes ; to his affirmation that he was with 
Dr. Ludwig Buchner and Dr. Edward Aveling' avowed 
Atheists — in thought, though preferring the term “ Agnos- 
tic,” the date of his deprivation of God, or the knowledge of 
God, or whatever else a conversion to Agnosticism denotes, 
being, however, not specified. Perhaps, indeed, Darwinism 
is theistic after all. The remark that certain characteristics 
of the Equidce make “ the works of God a mere mockery 
and deception ” if “ each equine species were independently 
created” (p. 130), and that if natural selection operate 
widely and long “ may we not believe that a living optical 
instrument might be formed as superior to one of glass as 
the works of the Creator are to those of man ?” (p. 146) ; 
and sundry passages in the “ Descent of Man ” are indica- 
tions of theistic belief. And, indeed, “ we may console our- 
selves ” for “the happy survive” (p, 61) “ from the war of 
nature, from famine and death, the most exalted objeCt we 
are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the 
higher animals, direCtly follows ” (p. 429). Mr. Darwin 
would have praised a man who picked pockets in order to 
pay his creditors ten shillings in the pound. 
8. Mr. Darwin has “ nothing to do with the origin of the 
mental powers,” being “ only concerned with the diversities 
of instindt and of the other mental faculties in animals of 
the same class ” (p. 205). Seeing, however, that “ what 
manner the mental powers were first developed in the lowest 
organisms is as hopeless an enquiry as how itself first 
originated, although the first dawnings of intelligence, 
according to Mr. Herbert Spencer, have been developed 
through the multiplication and co-ordination of rellex 
actions ” (“ Descent of Man,” pp. 66, 67) ; and seeing that 
“ all the most complex and wonderful instinCts have 
originated ” by natural selection (p. 206) ; we may infer 
accordingly the calibre of the prototypal instinCts. 
9. Mr. Darwin “ placed in a most conspicuous position — 
