1885.1 
Mr. Darwin's Masterpiece. 
447 
“ everv 11 i ^ . the whoIe econom y of Nature, with 
« ZtJ f a , dlstnbutlon • • • and variation, will be dimly 
“ ° r i qU * lte “understood ” unless “ the truth of the 
umversal struggle for life ... be thoroughly engrained in 
the mind (p. 49) sounds like a presupposing of the truth 
conTended U for. S “ “ the Very ° ne °" * he P oint of bei "§ 
rni V ° 1Ume *u° ^definite as to general aim invites enquiry 
ncermng the amount of harmony manifest in the mar- 
shalling of the arguments. And the answer is that many of 
Mr. Darwin s propositions are so vitiated by incoherence as 
to lender his real teaching inaccessible. To give some in- 
s ances -According to Mr. Darwin himself, “in former 
<( edltlons he spoke as if the preservation of “ any single 
strongly-marked variation ” “ had frequently occurred,” 
though he saw that such would be “ a rare event ” (p. 71) 
We learn that “in a state of Nature . . . animals and 
„ P i a f, tS . * : .• bave t0 struggle for existence from the hour 
^ of then' birth to that of their death” (ii., 219), yet 
,< tbe stru gg le we may console ourselves 
with the full belief that the war of Nature is not incessant” 
tp. 01). Again, not only is the insensibly slow rate of or- 
gamc change repeatedly insisted upon, but modification 
undei Nature is contrasted constantly with modification un- 
dei domestication, the latter, though very slow, being the 
taster of the two ; while, further, we learn that 140 millions 
ot years can hardly be considered sufficient for pre-Cambrian 
evolution, and that 60 million years appears a very short 
time for that occurring in post-Cambrian times (p. 206)- 
also that, “ with respeCt to the lapse of time not having 
been sufficient for the assumed amount of organic change 
<f • • • tbis objection, as urged by Sir William Thomson, & is 
probably one of the gravest as yet advanced ” (p. 409) • 
and all this notwithstanding that “ we are also quite ignorant 
u at bow rapid a rate organisms, whether high or low in the 
scale, may be modified under favourable conditions” 
\ Descent of Man, p. 156). 
Courtesy to opponents and loyal recognition of prede- 
cessors are the remaining topics promised discussion under 
the present head. One instance of each shall occupy us. 
Mr. Darwin introduces Dr. Mivart to his readers as 
“ a distinguished zoologist ” who “ has recently collected 
“ all the objections . . . against the theory,” and “ illus- 
“ trated them with admirable art and force ” (p. 176), 
thereby convincing Mr. Darwin of, inter alia, “ much partial 
“ error ” (p. 177). He recapitulates the illustrations dis- 
