great conception, which had dawned upon the minds of the patriarchs of philosophy—which had been embalmed in the immortal poem of Lucretius—which had been submerged, but not drowned, in the muddy deluge of Hebrew mythology and schoolmen's philosophy (miscalled Christianity) in the middle ages—and had struggled to the surface, much besmirched, by Lamarck's help—at length stood upon a firm dry quay, built by Darwin's hand, and made water-tight by a goodly contribution of Wallace's cement.
For the first time in history, sound scientific reasonings—the force of which has increased with every year of the fifteen which have elapsed introduced—such conclusions as the following:
"I believe that animals have descended from at most only four or five progenitors" ("Origin of Species," first edition, p. 484).
"I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form" (Ibid., p. 484).
"In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown upon the origin of man and his history" (Ibid., p. 488).
"... I view all beings, not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Silurian system was deposited...." (Ibid., pp. 488, 489).
"As all the living forms of life are the lineal descendants of those which lived long before the Silurian epoch...." (Ibid., p. 489).
"There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one" (Ibid., p. 490).
There is no uncertain utterance here. There has been no special creation. All beings which now live are descended from primordial forms which existed before the oldest fossiliferous rocks were deposited. Man is no exception, but he and his highest faculties are as much products of evolution as the humblest plant, or the lowest worm.
A more clear and bold statement of the scope and tendencies of the doctrine advocated by Mr. Darwin could not have been put into words; and those who recollect the somewhat fiery controversies which were carried on, during the years which immediately followed 1859, need not be reminded that the cheval de bataille of the opponents of Darwinism was, to hold up to scorn and ridicule the application of his views to man, so distinctly indicated by the author of the theory when it was promulgated.
It seems almost absurd to produce evidence of what is so notorious. Yet it happens to be worth while to quote an article which appeared in the Quarterly Review for July, 1860. It is a production which should be bound up in good stout calf, or better, asses' skin, if such material is to be had, by the curious book-collector, together with
