Chap. XIV. 
CONCLUSIOK. 
483 
they themselves thought were special creations, and 
which are still thus looked at by the majority of natu¬ 
ralists, and which consequently have every external 
characteristic feature of true species,—they admit that 
these have been produced by variation, but they refuse 
to extend the same view to other and very slightly 
different forms. Nevertheless they do not pretend that 
they can define, or even conjecture, which are the 
created forms of life, and which are those produced by 
secondary laws. They admit variation as a vera causa 
in one case, they arbitrarily reject it in another, without 
assigning any distinction in the two cases. The day will 
come when this will be given as a curious illustration of 
the blindness of preconceived opinion. These authors 
seem no more startled at a miraculous act of creation 
than at an ordinary birth. But do they really believe 
that at innumerable periods in the earth’s history cer¬ 
tain elemental atoms have been commanded suddenly 
to flash into living tissues? Do they believe that at 
each supposed act of creation one individual or many 
were produced? Were all the infinitely numerous 
kinds of animals and plants created as eggs or seed, 
or as full grown ? and in the case of mammals, were 
they created bearing the false marks of nourishment 
from the mother’s womb? Although naturalists very 
properly demand a full explanation of every difficulty 
from those who believe in the mutability of species, on 
their own side they ignore the whole subject of the first 
appearance of species in what they consider reverent 
silence. 
It may be asked how far I extend the doctrine of the 
modification of species. The question is difficult to 
answer, because the more distinct the forms are which 
we may consider, by so much the arguments fall away 
in force. But some arguments of the greatest weight 
Y 2 
