3i8 
OWEN’S POSITION IN 
of the doctrine of evolution. On the speculative 
side, the very same mind has a distinct leaning 
towards realistic mysticism, while remaining 
liberally, perhaps prodigally, eclectic. A subli- 
mated Theism, after the manner of Cudworth, 
lies at the foundation of Owen’s speculations ; 
while the ‘Archetype’ takes the position of a 
Platonic ISea, indeed, almost that of an Alexan- 
drian Xdyo?. The essentially naturalistic abstrac- 
tions — ‘secondary causes,’ ‘forces,’ and ‘polarity’ 
— are personified and regarded as agents. 
If, in the ‘ Nature of Limbs’ (pp. 84, 85), the 
argument from Design is momentarily shattered 
by the admission that some parts of animals are 
‘ made in vain ; ’ it is immediately redintegrated 
by the suggestion that they are illustrations of the 
design manifested in the ‘ Archetype.’ The look- 
ing to ‘ natural laws ’ and ‘ secondary causes ’ for 
the ‘ progression ’ of ‘ organic phenomena ’ is the 
substantial acceptance of evolution, as set forth 
by Goethe, Oken, Lamarck, and Geoffroy ; but 
the picture of ‘Nature,’ advancing ‘amidst the 
wreck of worlds,’ fits in, no less admirably, with 
the catastrophism of Cuvier. 
Owen’s morphological labours appear to me to 
be completely pervaded by the spirit, and restricted 
to the methods, of the philosophical anatomists ; 
if I may, for the nonce, use that name in a limited 
sense, for the scholars of Oken, rather than for 
those of Geoffroy. But, from this point of view. 
