PREFACE. 
XV 
definite laws, of the forces possessed by the molecules of which 
the primitive nebulosity of the universe was composed 33 
The nebular theory is here acknowledged to be the basis of 
“ the fundamental proposition of Evolution ” or Darwinism ; 
and in the same article Professor Huxley goes on to say : — 
“ The Teleology, which supposes that the eye, such as we see 
it in man or one of the higher Vertebrata , was made with the 
precise structure which it exhibits, for the purpose of enabling 
the animal uhich possesses it to see, has undoubtedly received 
its death-blow 33 ! 
Darwinism, it will be observed, here claims to have given 
the death-blow to “ the argument from design 33 ; and Pro- 
fessor Huxley further tells us that Professor Haeckel points 
out that the assumption that spontaneous generation has 
occurred is also a necessary part of the doctrine of Evolution . 33 
To believe in Darwinism, then, requires an a priori belief in 
the hypothesis of spontaneous generation, in the absence of 
any proof whatever of its possibility, and also a belief in the 
nebular hypothesis, “ after all its props have given way one 
after the other ! 33 The Biology of Professors Huxley and 
Haeckel is thus seen to be at issue with Geology, with scientific 
induction, and with facts ! 
But I must pass on to notice one other most important matter 
bearing upon our discussions in the Victoria Institute. In the 
Times of this date will be found a notice of Dr. Carpenter’s 
Report to the Royal Society of the deep-sea explorations con- 
ducted on board H.M.S. Porcupine, by Professor Wyville 
Thompson and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, during the past summer 
and autumn. The results, Sir Charles Lyell frankly declared 
in the Royal Society, involved a fresh “ revolution in Geology.” 
But I can only cite the following brief passage here 
