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diff --git a/2926.txt b/2926.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21fe96d --- /dev/null +++ b/2926.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1045 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Critical Examination Of The Position Of +Mr. Darwin's Work, "On The Origin Of Species," In Relation To The Complete Theory Of The Causes Of The Phenomena Of Organic Nature, by Thomas H. Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Critical Examination Of The Position Of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On The Origin Of Species," In Relation To The Complete Theory Of The Causes Of The Phenomena Of Organic Nature + Lecture VI. (of VI.), Lectures To Working Men, at the + Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: "Origin + of Species" + +Author: Thomas H. Huxley + +Posting Date: January 4, 2009 [EBook #2926] +Release Date: November, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES *** + + + + +Produced by Amy E. Zelmer + + + + + +A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE POSITION OF MR. DARWIN'S WORK, "ON THE +ORIGIN OF SPECIES," IN RELATION TO THE COMPLETE THEORY OF THE CAUSES OF +THE PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE + + +By Thomas H. Huxley + + + + +IN the preceding five lectures I have endeavoured to give you an account +of those facts, and of those reasonings from facts, which form the data +upon which all theories regarding the causes of the phenomena of organic +nature must be based. And, although I have had frequent occasion to +quote Mr. Darwin--as all persons hereafter, in speaking upon these +subjects, will have occasion to quote his famous book on the "Origin of +Species,"--you must yet remember that, wherever I have quoted him, +it has not been upon theoretical points, or for statements in any way +connected with his particular speculations, but on matters of fact, +brought forward by himself, or collected by himself, and which appear +incidentally in his book. If a man 'will' make a book, professing to +discuss a single question, an encyclopaedia, I cannot help it. + +Now, having had an opportunity of considering in this sort of way the +different statements bearing upon all theories whatsoever, I have to lay +before you, as fairly as I can, what is Mr. Darwin's view of the matter +and what position his theories hold, when judged by the principles which +I have previously laid down, as deciding our judgments upon all theories +and hypotheses. + +I have already stated to you that the inquiry respecting the causes of +the phenomena of organic nature resolves itself into two problems--the +first being the question of the origination of living or organic beings; +and the second being the totally distinct problem of the modification +and perpetuation of organic beings when they have already come into +existence. The first question Mr. Darwin does not touch; he does +not deal with it at all; but he says--given the origin of organic +matter--supposing its creation to have already taken place, my object is +to show in consequence of what laws and what demonstrable properties of +organic matter, and of its environments, such states of organic nature +as those with which we are acquainted must have come about. This, you +will observe, is a perfectly legitimate proposition; every person has a +right to define the limits of the inquiry which he sets before himself; +and yet it is a most singular thing that in all the multifarious, and, +not unfrequently, ignorant attacks which have been made upon the 'Origin +of Species', there is nothing which has been more speciously criticised +than this particular limitation. If people have nothing else to urge +against the book, they say--"Well, after all, you see, Mr. Darwin's +explanation of the 'Origin of Species' is not good for much, because, in +the long run, he admits that he does not know how organic matter began +to exist. But if you admit any special creation for the first particle +of organic matter you may just as well admit it for all the rest; five +hundred or five thousand distinct creations are just as intelligible, +and just as little difficult to understand, as one." The answer to these +cavils is two-fold. In the first place, all human inquiry must stop +somewhere; all our knowledge and all our investigation cannot take us +beyond the limits set by the finite and restricted character of our +faculties, or destroy the endless unknown, which accompanies, like its +shadow, the endless procession of phenomena. So far as I can venture +to offer an opinion on such a matter, the purpose of our being +in existence, the highest object that human beings can set before +themselves, is not the pursuit of any such chimera as the annihilation +of the unknown; but it is simply the unwearied endeavour to remove its +boundaries a little further from our little sphere of action. + +I wonder if any historian would for a moment admit the objection, that +it is preposterous to trouble ourselves about the history of the Roman +Empire, because we do not know anything positive about the origin and +first building of the city of Rome! Would it be a fair objection to +urge, respecting the sublime discoveries of a Newton, or a Kepler, +those great philosophers, whose discoveries have been of the profoundest +benefit and service to all men,--to say to them--"After all that you +have told us as to how the planets revolve, and how they are maintained +in their orbits, you cannot tell us what is the cause of the origin of +the sun, moon, and stars. So what is the use of what you have done?" +Yet these objections would not be one whit more preposterous than the +objections which have been made to the 'Origin of Species.' Mr. Darwin, +then, had a perfect right to limit his inquiry as he pleased, and the +only question for us--the inquiry being so limited--is to ascertain +whether the method of his inquiry is sound or unsound; whether he has +obeyed the canons which must guide and govern all investigation, or +whether he has broken them; and it was because our inquiry this evening +is essentially limited to that question, that I spent a good deal of +time in a former lecture (which, perhaps, some of you thought might +have been better employed), in endeavouring to illustrate the method +and nature of scientific inquiry in general. We shall now have to put in +practice the principles that I then laid down. + +I stated to you in substance, if not in words, that wherever there +are complex masses of phenomena to be inquired into, whether they be +phenomena of the affairs of daily life, or whether they belong to the +more abstruse and difficult problems laid before the philosopher, our +course of proceeding in unravelling that complex chain of phenomena with +a view to get at its cause, is always the same; in all cases we must +invent an hypothesis; we must place before ourselves some more or less +likely supposition respecting that cause; and then, having assumed an +hypothesis, having supposed cause for the phenomena in question, we must +endeavour, on the one hand, to demonstrate our hypothesis, or, on the +other, to upset and reject it altogether, by testing it in three ways. +We must, in the first place, be prepared to prove that the supposed +causes of the phenomena exist in nature; that they are what the +logicians call 'vera causae'--true causes;--in the next place, we +should be prepared to show that the assumed causes of the phenomena are +competent to produce such phenomena as those which we wish to explain by +them; and in the last place, we ought to be able to show that no other +known causes are competent to produce those phenomena. If we can succeed +in satisfying these three conditions we shall have demonstrated our +hypothesis; or rather I ought to say we shall have proved it as far as +certainty is possible for us; for, after all, there is no one of our +surest convictions which may not be upset, or at any rate modified by +a further accession of knowledge. It was because it satisfied these +conditions that we accepted the hypothesis as to the disappearance of +the tea-pot and spoons in the case I supposed in a previous lecture; we +found that our hypothesis on that subject was tenable and valid, because +the supposed cause existed in nature, because it was competent to +account for the phenomena, and because no other known cause was +competent to account for them; and it is upon similar grounds that any +hypothesis you choose to name is accepted in science as tenable and +valid. + +What is Mr. Darwin's hypothesis? As I apprehend it--for I have put +it into a shape more convenient for common purposes than I could find +'verbatim' in his book--as I apprehend it, I say, it is, that all the +phenomena of organic nature, past and present, result from, or are +caused by, the inter-action of those properties of organic matter, +which we have called ATAVISM and VARIABILITY, with the CONDITIONS OF +EXISTENCE; or, in other words,--given the existence of organic matter, +its tendency to transmit its properties, and its tendency occasionally +to vary; and, lastly, given the conditions of existence by which organic +matter is surrounded--that these put together are the causes of the +Present and of the Past conditions of ORGANIC NATURE. + +Such is the hypothesis as I understand it. Now let us see how it will +stand the various tests which I laid down just now. In the first place, +do these supposed causes of the phenomena exist in nature? Is it the +fact that in nature these properties of organic matter--atavism and +variability--and those phenomena which we have called the conditions of +existence,--is it true that they exist? Well, of course, if they do not +exist, all that I have told you in the last three or four lectures +must be incorrect, because I have been attempting to prove that they do +exist, and I take it that there is abundant evidence that they do exist; +so far, therefore, the hypothesis does not break down. + +But in the next place comes a much more difficult inquiry:--Are the +causes indicated competent to give rise to the phenomena of organic +nature? I suspect that this is indubitable to a certain extent. It is +demonstrable, I think, as I have endeavoured to show you, that they +are perfectly competent to give rise to all the phenomena which are +exhibited by RACES in nature. Furthermore, I believe that they are +quite competent to account for all that we may call purely structural +phenomena which are exhibited by SPECIES in nature. On that point also +I have already enlarged somewhat. Again, I think that the causes assumed +are competent to account for most of the physiological characteristics +of species, and I not only think that they are competent to account +for them, but I think that they account for many things which +otherwise remain wholly unaccountable and inexplicable, and I may say +incomprehensible. For a full exposition of the grounds on which this +conviction is based, I must refer you to Mr. Darwin's work; all that I +can do now is to illustrate what I have said by two or three cases taken +almost at random. + +I drew your attention, on a previous evening, to the facts which are +embodied in our systems of Classification, which are the results of +the examination and comparison of the different members of the animal +kingdom one with another. I mentioned that the whole of the animal +kingdom is divisible into five sub-kingdoms; that each of these +sub-kingdoms is again divisible into provinces; that each province may +be divided into classes, and the classes into the successively smaller +groups, orders, families, genera, and species. + +Now, in each of these groups, the resemblance in structure among the +members of the group is closer in proportion as the group is smaller. +Thus, a man and a worm are members of the animal kingdom in virtue of +certain apparently slight though really fundamental resemblances which +they present. But a man and a fish are members of the same sub-kingdom +'Vertebrata', because they are much more like one another than either of +them is to a worm, or a snail, or any member of the other sub-kingdoms. +For similar reasons men and horses are arranged as members of the +same Class, 'Mammalia'; men and apes as members of the same Order, +'Primates'; and if there were any animals more like men than they +were like any of the apes, and yet different from men in important +and constant particulars of their organization, we should rank them as +members of the same Family, or of the same Genus, but as of distinct +Species. + +That it is possible to arrange all the varied forms of animals into +groups, having this sort of singular subordination one to the other, is +a very remarkable circumstance; but, as Mr. Darwin remarks, this is a +result which is quite to be expected, if the principles which he lays +down be correct. Take the case of the races which are known to be +produced by the operation of atavism and variability, and the conditions +of existence which check and modify these tendencies. Take the case +of the pigeons that I brought before you; there it was shown that +they might be all classed as belonging to some one of five principal +divisions, and that within these divisions other subordinate groups +might be formed. The members of these groups are related to one +another in just the same way as the genera of a family, and the groups +themselves as the families of an order, or the orders of a class; +while all have the same sort of structural relations with the wild +rock-pigeon, as the members of any great natural group have with a real +or imaginary typical form. Now, we know that all varieties of pigeons of +every kind have arisen by a process of selective breeding from a common +stock, the rock-pigeon; hence, you see, that if all species of animals +have proceeded from some common stock, the general character of their +structural relations, and of our systems of classification, which +express those relations, would be just what we find them to be. In other +words, the hypothetical cause is, so far, competent to produce effects +similar to those of the real cause. + +Take, again, another set of very remarkable facts,--the existence of +what are called rudimentary organs, organs for which we can find no +obvious use, in the particular animal economy in which they are found, +and yet which are there. + +Such are the splint-like bones in the leg of the horse, which I here +show you, and which correspond with bones which belong to certain toes +and fingers in the human hand and foot. In the horse you see they are +quite rudimentary, and bear neither toes nor fingers; so that the horse +has only one "finger" in his fore-foot and one "toe" in his hind foot. +But it is a very curious thing that the animals closely allied to the +horse show more toes than he; as the rhinoceros, for instance: he has +these extra toes well formed, and anatomical facts show very clearly +that he is very closely related to the horse indeed. So we may say that +animals, in an anatomical sense nearly related to the horse, have those +parts which are rudimentary in him, fully developed. + +Again, the sheep and the cow have no cutting-teeth, but only a hard +pad in the upper jaw. That is the common characteristic of ruminants in +general. But the calf has in its upper jaw some rudiments of teeth which +never are developed, and never play the part of teeth at all. Well, if +you go back in time, you find some of the older, now extinct, allies of +the ruminants have well-developed teeth in their upper jaws; and at +the present day the pig (which is in structure closely connected with +ruminants) has well-developed teeth in its upper jaw; so that here +is another instance of organs well-developed and very useful, in one +animal, represented by rudimentary organs, for which we can discover +no purpose whatsoever, in another closely allied animal. The whalebone +whale, again, has horny "whalebone" plates in its mouth, and no teeth; +but the young foetal whale, before it is born, has teeth in its jaws; +they, however, are never used, and they never come to anything. +But other members of the group to which the whale belongs have +well-developed teeth in both jaws. + +Upon any hypothesis of special creation, facts of this kind appear to me +to be entirely unaccountable and inexplicable, but they cease to be so +if you accept Mr. Darwin's hypothesis, and see reason for believing that +the whalebone whale and the whale with teeth in its mouth both sprang +from a whale that had teeth, and that the teeth of the foetal whale are +merely remnants--recollections, if we may so say--of the extinct whale. +So in the case of the horse and the rhinoceros: suppose that both have +descended by modification from some earlier form which had the normal +number of toes, and the persistence of the rudimentary bones which no +longer support toes in the horse becomes comprehensible. + +In the language that we speak in England, and in the language of the +Greeks, there are identical verbal roots, or elements entering into the +composition of words. That fact remains unintelligible so long as we +suppose English and Greek to be independently created tongues; but when +it is shown that both languages are descended from one original, the +Sanscrit, we give an explanation of that resemblance. In the same way +the existence of identical structural roots, if I may so term them, +entering into the composition of widely different animals, is striking +evidence in favour of the descent of those animals from a common +original. + +To turn to another kind of illustration:--If you regard the whole +series of stratified rocks--that enormous thickness of sixty or seventy +thousand feet that I have mentioned before, constituting the only record +we have of a most prodigious lapse of time, that time being, in all +probability, but a fraction of that of which we have no record;--if you +observe in these successive strata of rocks successive groups of animals +arising and dying out, a constant succession, giving you the same kind +of impression, as you travel from one group of strata to another, as +you would have in travelling from one country to another;--when you find +this constant succession of forms, their traces obliterated except to +the man of science,--when you look at this wonderful history, and ask +what it means, it is only a paltering with words if you are offered the +reply,--'They were so created.' + +But if, on the other hand, you look on all forms of organized beings as +the results of the gradual modification of a primitive type, the facts +receive a meaning, and you see that these older conditions are the +necessary predecessors of the present. Viewed in this light the facts of +palaeontology receive a meaning--upon any other hypothesis, I am unable +to see, in the slightest degree, what knowledge or signification we are +to draw out of them. Again, note as bearing upon the same point, the +singular likeness which obtains between the successive Faunae and +Florae, whose remains are preserved on the rocks: you never find any +great and enormous difference between the immediately successive Faunae +and Florae, unless you have reason to believe there has also been a +great lapse of time or a great change of conditions. The animals, for +instance, of the newest tertiary rocks, in any part of the world, are +always, and without exception, found to be closely allied with those +which now live in that part of the world. For example, in Europe, +Asia, and Africa, the large mammals are at present rhinoceroses, +hippopotamuses, elephants, lions, tigers, oxen, horses, etc.; and if +you examine the newest tertiary deposits, which contain the animals +and plants which immediately preceded those which now exist in the same +country, you do not find gigantic specimens of ant-eaters and kangaroos, +but you find rhinoceroses, elephants, lions, tigers, etc.,--of different +species to those now living,--but still their close allies. If you turn +to South America, where, at the present day, we have great sloths and +armadilloes and creatures of that kind, what do you find in the newest +tertiaries? You find the great sloth-like creature, the 'Megatherium', +and the great armadillo, the 'Glyptodon', and so on. And if you go to +Australia you find the same law holds good, namely, that that condition +of organic nature which has preceded the one which now exists, presents +differences perhaps of species, and of genera, but that the great types +of organic structure are the same as those which now flourish. + +What meaning has this fact upon any other hypothesis or supposition than +one of successive modification? But if the population of the world, in +any age, is the result of the gradual modification of the forms which +peopled it in the preceding age,--if that has been the case, it is +intelligible enough; because we may expect that the creature that +results from the modification of an elephantine mammal shall be +something like an elephant, and the creature which is produced by the +modification of an armadillo-like mammal shall be like an armadillo. +Upon that supposition, I say, the facts are intelligible; upon any +other, that I am aware of, they are not. + +So far, the facts of palaeontology are consistent with almost any +form of the doctrine of progressive modification; they would not be +absolutely inconsistent with the wild speculations of De Maillet, or +with the less objectionable hypothesis of Lamarck. But Mr. Darwin's +views have one peculiar merit; and that is, that they are perfectly +consistent with an array of facts which are utterly inconsistent with +and fatal to, any other hypothesis of progressive modification which +has yet been advanced. It is one remarkable peculiarity of Mr. Darwin's +hypothesis that it involves no necessary progression or incessant +modification, and that it is perfectly consistent with the persistence +for any length of time of a given primitive stock, contemporaneously +with its modifications. To return to the case of the domestic breeds +of pigeons, for example; you have the Dove-cot pigeon, which closely +resembles the Rock pigeon, from which they all started, existing at the +same time with the others. And if species are developed in the same way +in nature, a primitive stock and its modifications may, occasionally, +all find the conditions fitted for their existence; and though they come +into competition, to a certain extent, with one another, the derivative +species may not necessarily extirpate the primitive one, or 'vice +versa'. + +Now palaeontology shows us many facts which are perfectly harmonious +with these observed effects of the process by which Mr. Darwin supposes +species to have originated, but which appear to me to be totally +inconsistent with any other hypothesis which has been proposed. There +are some groups of animals and plants, in the fossil world, which have +been said to belong to "persistent types," because they have persisted, +with very little change indeed, through a very great range of time, +while everything about them has changed largely. There are families of +fishes whose type of construction has persisted all the way from the +carboniferous rock right up to the cretaceous; and others which have +lasted through almost the whole range of the secondary rocks, and from +the lias to the older tertiaries. It is something stupendous this--to +consider a genus lasting without essential modifications through all +this enormous lapse of time while almost everything else was changed and +modified. + +Thus I have no doubt that Mr. Darwin's hypothesis will be found +competent to explain the majority of the phenomena exhibited by species +in nature; but in an earlier lecture I spoke cautiously with respect to +its power of explaining all the physiological peculiarities of species. + +There is, in fact, one set of these peculiarities which the theory of +selective modification, as it stands at present, is not wholly competent +to explain, and that is the group of phenomena which I mentioned to you +under the name of Hybridism, and which I explained to consist in the +sterility of the offspring of certain species when crossed one with +another. It matters not one whit whether this sterility is universal, +or whether it exists only in a single case. Every hypothesis is bound +to explain, or, at any rate, not be inconsistent with, the whole of the +facts which it professes to account for; and if there is a single one of +these facts which can be shown to be inconsistent with (I do not merely +mean inexplicable by, but contrary to) the hypothesis, the hypothesis +falls to the ground,--it is worth nothing. One fact with which it is +positively inconsistent is worth as much, and as powerful in negativing +the hypothesis, as five hundred. If I am right in thus defining the +obligations of an hypothesis, Mr. Darwin, in order to place his +views beyond the reach of all possible assault, ought to be able to +demonstrate the possibility of developing from a particular stock by +selective breeding, two forms, which should either be unable to cross +one with another, or whose cross-bred offspring should be infertile with +one another. + +For, you see, if you have not done that you have not strictly fulfilled +all the conditions of the problem; you have not shown that you can +produce, by the cause assumed, all the phenomena which you have in +nature. Here are the phenomena of Hybridism staring you in the face, and +you cannot say, 'I can, by selective modification, produce these same +results.' Now, it is admitted on all hands that, at present, so far as +experiments have gone, it has not been found possible to produce this +complete physiological divergence by selective breeding. I stated this +very clearly before, and I now refer to the point, because, if it could +be proved, not only that this 'has' not been done, but that it 'cannot' +be done; if it could be demonstrated that it is impossible to breed +selectively, from any stock, a form which shall not breed with another, +produced from the same stock; and if we were shown that this must be +the necessary and inevitable results of all experiments, I hold that Mr. +Darwin's hypothesis would be utterly shattered. + +But has this been done? or what is really the state of the case? It is +simply that, so far as we have gone yet with our breeding, we have +not produced from a common stock two breeds which are not more or less +fertile with one another. + +I do not know that there is a single fact which would justify any one +in saying that any degree of sterility has been observed between breeds +absolutely known to have been produced by selective breeding from a +common stock. On the other hand, I do not know that there is a single +fact which can justify any one in asserting that such sterility cannot +be produced by proper experimentation. For my own part, I see every +reason to believe that it may, and will be so produced. For, as Mr. +Darwin has very properly urged, when we consider the phenomena of +sterility, we find they are most capricious; we do not know what it is +that the sterility depends on. There are some animals which will not +breed in captivity; whether it arises from the simple fact of their +being shut up and deprived of their liberty, or not, we do not know, but +they certainly will not breed. What an astounding thing this is, to +find one of the most important of all functions annihilated by mere +imprisonment! + +So, again, there are cases known of animals which have been thought +by naturalists to be undoubted species, which have yielded perfectly +fertile hybrids; while there are other species which present what +everybody believes to be varieties [1] which are more or less infertile +with one another. There are other cases which are truly extraordinary; +there is one, for example, which has been carefully examined,--of two +kinds of sea-weed, of which the male element of the one, which we may +call A, fertilizes the female element of the other, B; while the male +element of B will not fertilize the female element of A; so that, while +the former experiment seems to show us that they are 'varieties', the +latter leads to the conviction that they are 'species'. + +When we see how capricious and uncertain this sterility is, how unknown +the conditions on which it depends, I say that we have no right to +affirm that those conditions will not be better understood by and +by, and we have no ground for supposing that we may not be able to +experiment so as to obtain that crucial result which I mentioned +just now. So that though Mr. Darwin's hypothesis does not completely +extricate us from this difficulty at present, we have not the least +right to say it will not do so. + +There is a wide gulf between the thing you cannot explain and the thing +that upsets you altogether. There is hardly any hypothesis in this +world which has not some fact in connection with it which has not been +explained, but that is a very different affair to a fact that entirely +opposes your hypothesis; in this case all you can say is, that your +hypothesis is in the same position as a good many others. + +Now, as to the third test, that there are no other causes competent to +explain the phenomena, I explained to you that one should be able to say +of an hypothesis, that no other known causes than those supposed by it +are competent to give rise to the phenomena. Here, I think, Mr. Darwin's +view is pretty strong. I really believe that the alternative is either +Darwinism or nothing, for I do not know of any rational conception or +theory of the organic universe which has any scientific position at all +beside Mr. Darwin's. I do not know of any proposition that has been +put before us with the intention of explaining the phenomena of organic +nature, which has in its favour a thousandth part of the evidence which +may be adduced in favour of Mr. Darwin's views. Whatever may be the +objections to his views, certainly all others are absolutely out of +court. + +Take the Lamarckian hypothesis, for example. Lamarck was a great +naturalist, and to a certain extent went the right way to work; he +argued from what was undoubtedly a true cause of some of the phenomena +of organic nature. He said it is a matter of experience that an +animal may be modified more or less in consequence of its desires and +consequent actions. Thus, if a man exercise himself as a blacksmith, +his arms will become strong and muscular; such organic modification is a +result of this particular action and exercise. Lamarck thought that by a +very simple supposition based on this truth he could explain the +origin of the various animal species: he said, for example, that the +short-legged birds which live on fish had been converted into the +long-legged waders by desiring to get the fish without wetting their +bodies, and so stretching their legs more and more through successive +generations. If Lamarck could have shown experimentally, that even races +of animals could be produced in this way, there might have been some +ground for his speculations. But he could show nothing of the kind, and +his hypothesis has pretty well dropped into oblivion, as it deserved +to do. I said in an earlier lecture that there are hypotheses and +hypotheses, and when people tell you that Mr. Darwin's strongly-based +hypothesis is nothing but a mere modification of Lamarck's, you will +know what to think of their capacity for forming a judgment on this +subject. + +But you must recollect that when I say I think it is either Mr. Darwin's +hypothesis or nothing; that either we must take his view, or look upon +the whole of organic nature as an enigma, the meaning of which is +wholly hidden from us; you must understand that I mean that I accept it +provisionally, in exactly the same way as I accept any other hypothesis. +Men of science do not pledge themselves to creeds; they are bound by +articles of no sort; there is not a single belief that it is not a +bounden duty with them to hold with a light hand and to part with it +cheerfully, the moment it is really proved to be contrary to any fact, +great or small. And if, in course of time I see good reasons for such +a proceeding, I shall have no hesitation in coming before you, and +pointing out any change in my opinion without finding the slightest +occasion to blush for so doing. So I say that we accept this view as +we accept any other, so long as it will help us, and we feel bound +to retain it only so long as it will serve our great purpose--the +improvement of Man's estate and the widening of his knowledge. The +moment this, or any other conception, ceases to be useful for these +purposes, away with it to the four winds; we care not what becomes of +it! + +But to say truth, although it has been my business to attend closely +to the controversies roused by the publication of Mr. Darwin's book, +I think that not one of the enormous mass of objections and obstacles +which have been raised is of any very great value, except that +sterility case which I brought before you just now. All the rest are +misunderstandings of some sort, arising either from prejudice, or want +of knowledge, or still more from want of patience and care in reading +the work. + +For you must recollect that it is not a book to be read with as much +ease as its pleasant style may lead you to imagine. You spin through it +as if it were a novel the first time you read it, and think you know +all about it; the second time you read it you think you know rather less +about it; and the third time, you are amazed to find how little you have +really apprehended its vast scope and objects. I can positively say that +I never take it up without finding in it some new view, or light, +or suggestion that I have not noticed before. That is the best +characteristic of a thorough and profound book; and I believe this +feature of the 'Origin of Species' explains why so many persons have +ventured to pass judgment and criticisms upon it which are by no means +worth the paper they are written on. + +Before concluding these lectures there is one point to which I must +advert,--though, as Mr. Darwin has said nothing about man in his book, +it concerns myself rather than him;--for I have strongly maintained on +sundry occasions that if Mr. Darwin's views are sound, they apply +as much to man as to the lower mammals, seeing that it is perfectly +demonstrable that the structural differences which separate man from the +apes are not greater than those which separate some apes from others. +There cannot be the slightest doubt in the world that the argument which +applies to the improvement of the horse from an earlier stock, or of ape +from ape, applies to the improvement of man from some simpler and lower +stock than man. There is not a single faculty--functional or structural, +moral, intellectual, or instinctive,--there is no faculty whatever that +is not capable of improvement; there is no faculty whatsoever which does +not depend upon structure, and as structure tends to vary, it is capable +of being improved. + +Well, I have taken a good deal of pains at various times to prove this, +and I have endeavoured to meet the objections of those who maintain, +that the structural differences between man and the lower animals are of +so vast a character and enormous extent, that even if Mr. Darwin's views +are correct, you cannot imagine this particular modification to take +place. It is, in fact, easy matter to prove that, so far as structure is +concerned, man differs to no greater extent from the animals which +are immediately below him than these do from other members of the same +order. Upon the other hand, there is no one who estimates more highly +than I do the dignity of human nature, and the width of the gulf in +intellectual and moral matters, which lies between man and the whole of +the lower creation. + +But I find this very argument brought forward vehemently by some. "You +say that man has proceeded from a modification of some lower animal, and +you take pains to prove that the structural differences which are +said to exist in his brain do not exist at all, and you teach that all +functions, intellectual, moral, and others, are the expression or the +result, in the long run, of structures, and of the molecular forces +which they exert." It is quite true that I do so. + +"Well, but," I am told at once, somewhat triumphantly, "you say in the +same breath that there is a great moral and intellectual chasm between +man and the lower animals. How is this possible when you declare that +moral and intellectual characteristics depend on structure, and yet tell +us that there is no such gulf between the structure of man and that of +the lower animals?" + +I think that objection is based upon a misconception of the real +relations which exist between structure and function, between +mechanism and work. Function is the expression of molecular forces and +arrangements no doubt; but, does it follow from this, that variation +in function so depends upon variation in structure that the former is +always exactly proportioned to the latter? If there is no such relation, +if the variation in function which follows on a variation in structure, +may be enormously greater than the variation of the structure, then, you +see, the objection falls to the ground. + +Take a couple of watches--made by the same maker, and as completely +alike as possible; set them upon the table, and the function of +each--which is its rate of going--will be performed in the same manner, +and you shall be able to distinguish no difference between them; but let +me take a pair of pincers, and if my hand is steady enough to do it, +let me just lightly crush together the bearings of the balance-wheel, or +force to a slightly different angle the teeth of the escapement of one +of them, and of course you know the immediate result will be that +the watch, so treated, from that moment will cease to go. But what +proportion is there between the structural alteration and the functional +result? Is it not perfectly obvious that the alteration is of the +minutest kind, yet that slight as it is, it has produced an infinite +difference in the performance of the functions of these two instruments? + +Well, now, apply that to the present question. What is it that +constitutes and makes man what he is? What is it but his power +of language--that language giving him the means of recording +his experience--making every generation somewhat wiser than its +predecessor,--more in accordance with the established order of the +universe? + +What is it but this power of speech, of recording experience, which +enables men to be men--looking before and after and, in some dim +sense, understanding the working of this wondrous universe--and which +distinguishes man from the whole of the brute world? I say that this +functional difference is vast, unfathomable, and truly infinite in +its consequences; and I say at the same time, that it may depend upon +structural differences which shall be absolutely inappreciable to us +with our present means of investigation. What is this very speech that +we are talking about? I am speaking to you at this moment, but if you +were to alter, in the minutest degree, the proportion of the nervous +forces now active in the two nerves which supply the muscles of my +glottis, I should become suddenly dumb. The voice is produced only so +long as the vocal chords are parallel; and these are parallel only so +long as certain muscles contract with exact equality; and that again +depends on the equality of action of those two nerves I spoke of. So +that a change of the minutest kind in the structure of one of these +nerves, or in the structure of the part in which it originates, or of +the supply of blood to that part, or of one of the muscles to which it +is distributed, might render all of us dumb. But a race of dumb men, +deprived of all communication with those who could speak, would be +little indeed removed from the brutes. And the moral and intellectual +difference between them and ourselves would be practically infinite, +though the naturalist should not be able to find a single shadow of even +specific structural difference. + +But let me dismiss this question now, and, in conclusion, let me say +that you may go away with it as my mature conviction, that Mr. Darwin's +work is the greatest contribution which has been made to biological +science since the publication of the 'Regne Animal' of Cuvier, and since +that of the 'History of Development' of Von Baer. I believe that if you +strip it of its theoretical part it still remains one of the greatest +encyclopaedias of biological doctrine that any one man ever brought +forth; and I believe that, if you take it as the embodiment of +an hypothesis, it is destined to be the guide of biological and +psychological speculation for the next three or four generations. + + +[Footnote 1: And as I conceive with very good reason; but if any +objector urges that we cannot prove that they have been produced by +artificial or natural selection, the objection must be admitted-- +ultrasceptical as it is. But in science, scepticism is a duty.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Critical Examination Of The Position +Of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On The Origin Of Species," In Relation To The Complete Theory Of The Causes Of The Phenomena Of Organic Nature, by Thomas H. 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