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diff --git a/old/thx0910.txt b/old/thx0910.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fee7fc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thx0910.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1686 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Origin of Species, by Huxley +#19 in our series by Thomas H. Huxley + +Also see: +Origin of Species, 6th Ed., by Charles Darwin [#5][otoos610.xxx]2009 +On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin [#3][otoosxxx.xxx]1228 +[Take note: filename was misspelled in some listings as otoof10.* ] + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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DARWIN'S long-standing and well-earned scientific eminence probably +renders him indifferent to that social notoriety which passes by the +name of success; but if the calm spirit of the philosopher have not yet +wholly superseded the ambition and the vanity of the carnal man within +him, he must be well satisfied with the results of his venture in +publishing the 'Origin of Species'. Overflowing the narrow bounds of +purely scientific circles, the "species question" divides with Italy +and the Volunteers the attention of general society. Everybody has read +Mr. Darwin's book, or, at least, has given an opinion upon its merits +or demerits; pietists, whether lay or ecclesiastic, decry it with the +mild railing which sounds so charitable; bigots denounce it with +ignorant invective; old ladies of both sexes consider it a decidedly +dangerous book, and even savants, who have no better mud to throw, +quote antiquated writers to show that its author is no better than an +ape himself; while every philosophical thinker hails it as a veritable +Whitworth gun in the armoury of liberalism; and all competent +naturalists and physiologists, whatever their opinions as to the +ultimate fate of the doctrines put forth, acknowledge that the work in +which they are embodied is a solid contribution to knowledge and +inaugurates a new epoch in natural history. + +Nor has the discussion of the subject been restrained within the limits +of conversation. When the public is eager and interested, reviewers +must minister to its wants; and the genuine 'litterateur' is too much +in the habit of acquiring his knowledge from the book he judges--as the +Abyssinian is said to provide himself with steaks from the ox which +carries him--to be withheld from criticism of a profound scientific +work by the mere want of the requisite preliminary scientific +acquirement; while, on the other hand, the men of science who wish well +to the new views, no less than those who dispute their validity, have +naturally sought opportunities of expressing their opinions. Hence it +is not surprising that almost all the critical journals have noticed +Mr. Darwin's work at greater or less length; and so many disquisitions, +of every degree of excellence, from the poor product of ignorance, too +often stimulated by prejudice, to the fair and thoughtful essay of the +candid student of Nature, have appeared, that it seems an almost +hopeless task to attempt to say anything new upon the question. + +But it may be doubted if the knowledge and acumen of prejudged +scientific opponents, or the subtlety of orthodox special pleaders, +have yet exerted their full force in mystifying the real issues of the +great controversy which has been set afoot, and whose end is hardly +likely to be seen by this generation; so that, at this eleventh hour, +and even failing anything new, it may be useful to state afresh that +which is true, and to put the fundamental positions advocated by Mr. +Darwin in such a form that they may be grasped by those whose special +studies lie in other directions. And the adoption of this course may +be the more advisable, because, notwithstanding its great deserts, and +indeed partly on account of them, the 'Origin of Species' is by no +means an easy book to read--if by reading is implied the full +comprehension of an author's meaning. + +We do not speak jestingly in saying that it is Mr. Darwin's misfortune +to know more about the question he has taken up than any man living. +Personally and practically exercised in zoology, in minute anatomy, in +geology; a student of geographical distribution, not on maps and in +museums only, but by long voyages and laborious collection; having +largely advanced each of these branches of science, and having spent +many years in gathering and sifting materials for his present work, the +store of accurately registered facts upon which the author of the +'Origin of Species' is able to draw at will is prodigious. + +But this very superabundance of matter must have been embarrassing to a +writer who, for the present, can only put forward an abstract of his +views; and thence it arises, perhaps, that notwithstanding the +clearness of the style, those who attempt fairly to digest the book +find much of it a sort of intellectual pemmican--a mass of facts +crushed and pounded into shape, rather than held together by the +ordinary medium of an obvious logical bond; due attention will, without +doubt, discover this bond, but it is often hard to find. + +Again, from sheer want of room, much has to be taken for granted which +might readily enough be proved; and hence, while the adept, who can +supply the missing links in the evidence from his own knowledge, +discovers fresh proof of the singular thoroughness with which all +difficulties have been considered and all unjustifiable suppositions +avoided, at every reperusal of Mr. Darwin's pregnant paragraphs, the +novice in biology is apt to complain of the frequency of what he +fancies is gratuitous assumption. + +Thus while it may be doubted if, for some years, any one is likely to be +competent to pronounce judgment on all the issues raised by Mr. Darwin, +there is assuredly abundant room for him, who, assuming the humbler, +though perhaps as useful, office of an interpreter between the 'Origin +of Species' and the public, contents himself with endeavouring to point +out the nature of the problems which it discusses; to distinguish +between the ascertained facts and the theoretical views which it +contains; and finally, to show the extent to which the explanation it +offers satisfies the requirements of scientific logic. At any rate, it +is this office which we purpose to undertake in the following pages. + +It may be safely assumed that our readers have a general conception of +the nature of the objects to which the word "species" is applied; but +it has, perhaps, occurred to a few, even to those who are naturalists +'ex professo', to reflect, that, as commonly employed, the term has a +double sense and denotes two very different orders of relations. When +we call a group of animals, or of plants, a species, we may imply +thereby, either that all these animals or plants have some common +peculiarity of form or structure; or, we may mean that they possess +some common functional character. That part of biological science +which deals with form and structure is called Morphology--that which +concerns itself with function, Physiology--so that we may conveniently +speak of these two senses, or aspects, of "species"--the one as +morphological, the other as physiological. Regarded from the former +point of view, a species is nothing more than a kind of animal or +plant, which is distinctly definable from all others, by certain +constant, and not merely sexual, morphological peculiarities. Thus +horses form a species, because the group of animals to which that name +is applied is distinguished from all others in the world by the +following constantly associated characters. They have--1, A vertebral +column; 2, Mammae; 3, A placental embryo; 4, Four legs; 5, A single +well-developed toe in each foot provided with a hoof; 6, A bushy tail; +and 7, Callosities on the inner sides of both the fore and the hind +legs. The asses, again, form a distinct species, because, with the +same characters, as far as the fifth in the above list, all asses have +tufted tails, and have callosities only on the inner side of the +fore-legs. If animals were discovered having the general characters of +the horse, but sometimes with callosities only on the fore-legs, and +more or less tufted tails; or animals having the general characters of +the ass, but with more or less bushy tails, and sometimes with +callosities on both pairs of legs, besides being intermediate in other +respects--the two species would have to be merged into one. They could +no longer be regarded as morphologically distinct species, for they +would not be distinctly definable one from the other. + +However bare and simple this definition of species may appear to be, we +confidently appeal to all practical naturalists, whether zoologists, +botanists, or palaeontologists, to say if, in the vast majority of +cases, they know, or mean to affirm anything more of the group of +animals or plants they so denominate than what has just been stated. +Even the most decided advocates of the received doctrines respecting +species admit this. + +"I apprehend," says Professor Owen*, "that few naturalists nowadays, in +describing and proposing a name for what they call 'a new species,' use +that term to signify what was meant by it twenty or thirty years ago; +that is, an originally distinct creation, maintaining its primitive +distinction by obstructive generative peculiarities. The proposer of +the new species now intends to state no more than he actually knows; +as, for example, that the differences on which he founds the specific +character are constant in individuals of both sexes, so far as +observation has reached; and that they are not due to domestication or +to artificially superinduced external circumstances, or to any outward +influence within his cognizance; that the species is wild, or is such +as it appears by Nature." + + [footnote] *On the Osteology of the Chimpanzees and Orangs: + Transactions of the Zoological Society, 1858. + +If we consider, in fact, that by far the largest proportion of recorded +existing species are known only by the study of their skins, or bones, +or other lifeless exuvia; that we are acquainted with none, or next to +none, of their physiological peculiarities, beyond those which can be +deduced from their structure, or are open to cursory observation; and +that we cannot hope to learn more of any of those extinct forms of life +which now constitute no inconsiderable proportion of the known Flora +and Fauna of the world: it is obvious that the definitions of these +species can be only of a purely structural, or morphological, character. +It is probable that naturalists would have avoided much confusion of +ideas if they had more frequently borne the necessary limitations of +our knowledge in mind. But while it may safely be admitted that we are +acquainted with only the morphological characters of the vast majority +of species--the functional or physiological, peculiarities of a few have +been carefully investigated, and the result of that study forms a large +and most interesting portion of the physiology of reproduction. + +The student of Nature wonders the more and is astonished the less, the +more conversant he becomes with her operations; but of all the +perennial miracles she offers to his inspection, perhaps the most +worthy of admiration is the development of a plant or of an animal from +its embryo. Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such +as a salamander or newt. It is a minute spheroid in which the best +microscope will reveal nothing but a structureless sac, enclosing a +glairy fluid, holding granules in suspension. But strange +possibilities lie dormant in that semi-fluid globule. Let a moderate +supply of warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter +undergoes changes so rapid, yet so steady and purposelike in their +succession, that one can only compare them to those operated by a +skilled modeller upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invisible +trowel, the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller +portions, until it is reduced to an aggregation of granules not too +large to build withal the finest fabrics of the nascent organism. And, +then, it is as if a delicate finger traced out the line to be occupied +by the spinal column, and moulded the contour of the body; pinching up +the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning flank and +limb into due salamandrine proportions, in so artistic a way, that, +after watching the process hour by hour, one is almost involuntarily +possessed by the notion, that some more subtle aid to vision than an +achromatic, would show the hidden artist, with his plan before him, +striving with skilful manipulation to perfect his work. + +As life advances, and the young amphibian ranges the waters, the terror +of his insect contemporaries, not only are the nutritious particles +supplied by its prey, by the addition of which to its frame, growth +takes place, laid down, each in its proper spot, and in such due +proportion to the rest, as to reproduce the form, the colour, and the +size, characteristic of the parental stock; but even the wonderful +powers of reproducing lost parts possessed by these animals are +controlled by the same governing tendency. Cut off the legs, the tail, +the jaws, separately or all together, and, as Spallanzani showed long +ago, these parts not only grow again, but the redintegrated limb is +formed on the same type as those which were lost. The new jaw, or leg, +is a newt's, and never by any accident more like that of a frog. What +is true of the newt is true of every animal and of every plant; the +acorn tends to build itself up again into a woodland giant such as that +from whose twig it fell; the spore of the humblest lichen reproduces +the green or brown incrustation which gave it birth; and at the other +end of the scale of life, the child that resembled neither the paternal +nor the maternal side of the house would be regarded as a kind of +monster. + +So that the one end to which, in all living beings, the formative +impulse is tending--the one scheme which the Archaeus of the old +speculators strives to carry out, seems to be to mould the offspring +into the likeness of the parent. It is the first great law of +reproduction, that the offspring tends to resemble its parent or +parents, more closely than anything else. + +Science will some day show us how this law is a necessary consequence of +the more general laws which govern matter; but, for the present, more +can hardly be said than that it appears to be in harmony with them. We +know that the phenomena of vitality are not something apart from other +physical phenomena, but one with them; and matter and force are the two +names of the one artist who fashions the living as well as the +lifeless. Hence living bodies should obey the same great laws as other +matter--nor, throughout Nature, is there a law of wider application +than this, that a body impelled by two forces takes the direction of +their resultant. But living bodies may be regarded as nothing but +extremely complex bundles of forces held in a mass of matter, as the +complex forces of a magnet are held in the steel by its coercive force; +and, since the differences of sex are comparatively slight, or, in other +words, the sum of the forces in each has a very similar tendency, their +resultant, the offspring, may reasonably be expected to deviate but +little from a course parallel to either, or to both. + +Represent the reason of the law to ourselves by what physical metaphor +or analogy we will, however, the great matter is to apprehend its +existence and the importance of the consequences deducible from it. For +things which are like to the same are like to one another; and if; in a +great series of generations, every offspring is like its parent, it +follows that all the offspring and all the parents must be like one +another; and that, given an original parental stock, with the +opportunity of undisturbed multiplication, the law in question +necessitates the production, in course of time, of an indefinitely +large group, the whole of whose members are at once very similar and +are blood relations, having descended from the same parent, or pair of +parents. The proof that all the members of any given group of animals, +or plants, had thus descended, would be ordinarily considered +sufficient to entitle them to the rank of physiological species, for +most physiologists consider species to be definable as "the offspring +of a single primitive stock." + +But though it is quite true that all those groups we call species 'may', +according to the known laws of reproduction, have descended from a +single stock, and though it is very likely they really have done so, +yet this conclusion rests on deduction and can hardly hope to establish +itself upon a basis of observation. And the primitiveness of the +supposed single stock, which, after all, is the essential part of the +matter, is not only a hypothesis, but one which has not a shadow of +foundation, if by "primitive" be meant "independent of any other living +being." A scientific definition, of which an unwarrantable hypothesis +forms an essential part, carries its condemnation within itself; but, +even supposing such a definition were, in form, tenable, the +physiologist who should attempt to apply it in Nature would soon find +himself involved in great, if not inextricable, difficulties. As we +have said, it is indubitable that offspring 'tend' to resemble the +parental organism, but it is equally true that the similarity attained +never amounts to identity, either in form or in structure. There is +always a certain amount of deviation, not only from the precise +characters of a single parent, but when, as in most animals and many +plants, the sexes are lodged in distinct individuals, from an exact mean +between the two parents. And indeed, on general principles, this +slight deviation seems as intelligible as the general similarity, if we +reflect how complex the co-operating "bundles of forces" are, and how +improbable it is that, in any case, their true resultant shall coincide +with any mean between the more obvious characters of the two parents. +Whatever be its cause, however, the co-existence of this tendency to +minor variation with the tendency to general similarity, is of vast +importance in its bearing on the question of the origin of species. + +As a general rule, the extent to which an offspring differs from its +parent is slight enough; but, occasionally, the amount of difference is +much more strongly marked, and then the divergent offspring receives +the name of a Variety. Multitudes, of what there is every reason to +believe are such varieties, are known, but the origin of very few has +been accurately recorded, and of these we will select two as more +especially illustrative of the main features of variation. The first +of them is that of the "Ancon," or "Otter" sheep, of which a careful +account is given by Colonel David Humphreys, F.R.S., in a letter to Sir +Joseph Banks, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1813. It +appears that one Seth Wright, the proprietor of a farm on the banks of +the Charles River, in Massachusetts, possessed a flock of fifteen ewes +and a ram of the ordinary kind. In the year 1791, one of the ewes +presented her owner with a male lamb, differing, for no assignable +reason, from its parents by a proportionally long body and short bandy +legs, whence it was unable to emulate its relatives in those sportive +leaps over the neighbours' fences, in which they were in the habit of +indulging, much to the good farmer's vexation. + +The second case is that detailed by a no less unexceptionable authority +than Reaumur, in his 'Art de faire eclore les Poulets'. A Maltese +couple, named Kelleia, whose hands and feet were constructed upon the +ordinary human model, had born to them a son, Gratio, who possessed six +perfectly movable fingers on each hand, and six toes, not quite so well +formed, on each foot. No cause could be assigned for the appearance of +this unusual variety of the human species. + +Two circumstances are well worthy of remark in both these cases. In +each, the variety appears to have arisen in full force, and, as it +were, 'per saltum'; a wide and definite difference appearing, at once, +between the Ancon ram and the ordinary sheep; between the six-fingered +and six-toed Gratio Kelleia and ordinary men. In neither case is it +possible to point out any obvious reason for the appearance of the +variety. Doubtless there were determining causes for these as for all +other phenomena; but they do not appear, and we can be tolerably certain +that what are ordinarily understood as changes in physical conditions, +as in climate, in food, or the like, did not take place and had nothing +to do with the matter. It was no case of what is commonly called +adaptation to circumstances; but, to use a conveniently erroneous +phrase, the variations arose spontaneously. The fruitless search after +final causes leads their pursuers a long way; but even those hardy +teleologists, who are ready to break through all the laws of physics in +chase of their favourite will-o'-the-wisp, may be puzzled to discover +what purpose could be attained by the stunted legs of Seth Wright's ram +or the hexadactyle members of Gratio Kelleia. + +Varieties then arise we know not why; and it is more than probable that +the majority of varieties have arisen in this "spontaneous" manner, +though we are, of course, far from denying that they may be traced, in +some cases, to distinct external influences; which are assuredly +competent to alter the character of the tegumentary covering, to change +colour, to increase or diminish the size of muscles, to modify +constitution, and, among plants, to give rise to the metamorphosis of +stamens into petals, and so forth. But however they may have arisen, +what especially interests us at present is, to remark that, once in +existence, varieties obey the fundamental law of reproduction that like +tends to produce like; and their offspring exemplify it by tending to +exhibit the same deviation from the parental stock as themselves. +Indeed, there seems to be, in many instances, a pre-potent influence +about a newly-arisen variety which gives it what one may call an unfair +advantage over the normal descendants from the same stock. This is +strikingly exemplified by the case of Gratio Kelleia, who married a +woman with the ordinary pentadactyle extremities, and had by her four +children, Salvator, George, Andre, and Marie. Of these children +Salvator, the eldest boy, had six fingers and six toes, like his +father; the second and third, also boys, had five fingers and five toes, +like their mother, though the hands and feet of George were slightly +deformed. The last, a girl, had five fingers and five toes, but the +thumbs were slightly deformed. The variety thus reproduced itself +purely in the eldest, while the normal type reproduced itself purely in +the third, and almost purely in the second and last: so that it would +seem, at first, as if the normal type were more powerful than the +variety. But all these children grew up and intermarried with normal +wives and husband, and then, note what took place: Salvator had four +children, three of whom exhibited the hexadactyle members of their +grandfather and father, while the youngest had the pentadactyle limbs +of the mother and grandmother; so that here, notwithstanding a double +pentadactyle dilution of the blood, the hexadactyle variety had the +best of it. The same pre-potency of the variety was still more +markedly exemplified in the progeny of two of the other children, Marie +and George. Marie (whose thumbs only were deformed) gave birth to a boy +with six toes, and three other normally formed children; but George, +who was not quite so pure a pentadactyle, begot, first, two girls, each +of whom had six fingers and toes; then a girl with six fingers on each +hand and six toes on the right foot, but only five toes on the left; +and lastly, a boy with only five fingers and toes. In these instances, +therefore, the variety, as it were, leaped over one generation to +reproduce itself in full force in the next. Finally, the purely +pentadactyle Andre was the father of many children, not one of whom +departed from the normal parental type. + +If a variation which approaches the nature of a monstrosity can strive +thus forcibly to reproduce itself, it is not wonderful that less +aberrant modifications should tend to be preserved even more strongly; +and the history of the Ancon sheep is, in this respect, particularly +instructive. With the "'cuteness" characteristic of their nation, the +neighbours of the Massachusetts farmer imagined it would be an +excellent thing if all his sheep were imbued with the stay-at-home +tendencies enforced by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram; and they +advised Wright to kill the old patriarch of his fold, and install the +Ancon ram in his place. The result justified their sagacious +anticipations, and coincided very nearly with what occurred to the +progeny of Gratio Kelleia. The young lambs were almost always either +pure Ancons, or pure ordinary sheep.* But when sufficient Ancon sheep +were obtained to interbreed with one another, it was found that the +offspring was always pure Ancon. Colonel Humphreys, in fact, states +that he was acquainted with only "one questionable case of a contrary +nature." Here, then, is a remarkable and well-established instance, +not only of a very distinct race being established 'per saltum', but of +that race breeding "true" at once, and showing no mixed forms, even +when crossed with another breed. + + [footnote] *Colonel Humphreys' statements are exceedingly + explicit on this point:--"When an Ancon ewe is impregnated + by a common ram, the increase resembles wholly either the + ewe or the ram. The increase of the common ewe impregnated + by an Ancon ram follows entirely the one or the other, + without blending any of the distinguishing and essential + peculiarities of both. Frequent instances have happened + where common ewes have had twins by Ancon rams, when one + exhibited the complete marks and features of the ewe, the + other of the ram. The contrast has been rendered + singularly striking, when one short-legged and one + long-legged lamb, produced at a birth, have been seen + sucking the dam at the same time."--'Philosophical + Transactions', 1813, Pt. I. pp. 89, 90. + +By taking care to select Ancons of both sexes, for breeding from, it +thus became easy to establish an extremely well-marked race; so +peculiar that, even when herded with other sheep, it was noted that the +Ancons kept together. And there is every reason to believe that the +existence of this breed might have been indefinitely protracted; but the +introduction of the Merino sheep, which were not only very superior to +the Ancons in wool and meat, but quite as quiet and orderly, led to the +complete neglect of the new breed, so that, in 1813, Colonel Humphreys +found it difficult to obtain the specimen, whose skeleton was presented +to Sir Joseph Banks. We believe that, for many years, no remnant of it +has existed in the United States. + +Gratio Kelleia was not the progenitor of a race of six-fingered men, as +Seth Wright's ram became a nation of Ancon sheep, though the tendency +of the variety to perpetuate itself appears to have been fully as +strong in the one case as in the other. And the reason of the +difference is not far to seek. Seth Wright took care not to weaken the +Ancon blood by matching his Ancon ewes with any but males of the same +variety, while Gratio Kelleia's sons were too far removed from the +patriarchal times to intermarry with their sisters; and his +grandchildren seem not to have been attracted by their six-fingered +cousins. In other words, in the one example a race was produced, +because, for several generations, care was taken to 'select' both +parents of the breeding stock from animals exhibiting a tendency to vary +in the same condition; while, in the other, no race was evolved, +because no such selection was exercised. A race is a propagated +variety; and as, by the laws of reproduction, offspring tend to assume +the parental forms, they will be more likely to propagate a variation +exhibited by both parents than that possessed by only one. + +There is no organ of the body of an animal which may not, and does not, +occasionally, vary more or less from the normal type; and there is no +variation which may not be transmitted and which, if selectively +transmitted, may not become the foundation of a race. This great +truth, sometimes forgotten by philosophers, has long been familiar to +practical agriculturists and breeders; and upon it rest all the methods +of improving the breeds of domestic animals, which, for the last +century, have been followed with so much success in England. Colour, +form, size, texture of hair or wool, proportions of various parts, +strength or weakness of constitution, tendency to fatten or to remain +lean, to give much or little milk, speed, strength, temper, +intelligence, special instincts; there is not one of these characters +whose transmission is not an every-day occurrence within the experience +of cattle-breeders, stock-farmers, horse-dealers, and dog and poultry +fanciers. Nay, it is only the other day that an eminent physiologist, +Dr. Brown-Sequard, communicated to the Royal Society his discovery +that epilepsy, artificially produced in guinea-pigs, by a means which +he has discovered, is transmitted to their offspring. + +But a race, once produced, is no more a fixed and immutable entity than +the stock whence it sprang; variations arise among its members, and as +these variations are transmitted like any others, new races may be +developed out of the pre-existing one 'ad infinitum', or, at least, +within any limit at present determined. Given sufficient time and +sufficiently careful selection, and the multitude of races which may +arise from a common stock is as astonishing as are the extreme +structural differences which they may present. A remarkable example of +this is to be found in the rock-pigeon, which Dr. Darwin has, in our +opinion, satisfactorily demonstrated to be the progenitor of all our +domestic pigeons, of which there are certainly more than a hundred +well-marked races. The most noteworthy of these races are, the four +great stocks known to the "fancy" as tumblers, pouters, carriers, and +fantails; birds which not only differ most singularly in size, colour, +and habits, but in the form of the beak and of the skull: in the +proportions of the beak to the skull; in the number of tail-feathers; +in the absolute and relative size of the feet; in the presence or +absence of the uropygial gland; in the number of vertebrae in the back; +in short, in precisely those characters in which the genera and species +of birds differ from one another. + +And it is most remarkable and instructive to observe, that none of these +races can be shown to have been originated by the action of changes in +what are commonly called external circumstances, upon the wild +rock-pigeon. On the contrary, from time immemorial, pigeon-fanciers +have had essentially similar methods of treating their pets, which have +been housed, fed, protected and cared for in much the same way in all +pigeonries. In fact, there is no case better adapted than that of the +pigeons to refute the doctrine which one sees put forth on high +authority, that "no other characters than those founded on the +development of bone for the attachment of muscles" are capable of +variation. In precise contradiction of this hasty assertion, Mr. +Darwin's researches prove that the skeleton of the wings in domestic +pigeons has hardly varied at all from that of the wild type; while, on +the other hand, it is in exactly those respects, such as the relative +length of the beak and skull, the number of the vertebrae, and the +number of the tail-feathers, in which muscular exertion can have no +important influence, that the utmost amount of variation has taken +place. + +We have said that the following out of the properties exhibited by +physiological species would lead us into difficulties, and at this +point they begin to be obvious; for if, as the result of spontaneous +variation and of selective breeding, the progeny of a common stock may +become separated into groups distinguished from one another by +constant, not sexual, morphological characters, it is clear that the +physiological definition of species is likely to clash with the +morphological definition. No one would hesitate to describe the pouter +and the tumbler as distinct species, if they were found fossil, or if +their skins and skeletons were imported, as those of exotic wild birds +commonly are--and without doubt, if considered alone, they are good and +distinct morphological species. On the other hand, they are not +physiological species, for they are descended from a common stock, the +rock-pigeon. + +Under these circumstances, as it is admitted on all sides that races +occur in Nature, how are we to know whether any apparently distinct +animals are really of different physiological species, or not, seeing +that the amount of morphological difference is no safe guide? Is there +any test of a physiological species? The usual answer of physiologists +is in the affirmative. It is said that such a test is to be found in +the phenomena of hybridization--in the results of crossing races, as +compared with the results of crossing species. + +So far as the evidence goes at present, individuals, of what are +certainly known to be mere races produced by selection, however +distinct they may appear to be, not only breed freely together, but the +offspring of such crossed races are only perfectly fertile with one +another. Thus, the spaniel and the greyhound, the dray-horse and the +Arab, the pouter and the tumbler, breed together with perfect freedom, +and their mongrels, if matched with other mongrels of the same kind, +are equally fertile. + +On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the individuals of many +natural species are either absolutely infertile if crossed with +individuals of other species, or, if they give rise to hybrid +offspring, the hybrids so produced are infertile when paired together. +The horse and the ass, for instance, if so crossed, give rise to the +mule, and there is no certain evidence of offspring ever having been +produced by a male and female mule. The unions of the rock-pigeon and +the ring-pigeon appear to be equally barren of result. Here, then, +says the physiologist, we have a means of distinguishing any two true +species from any two varieties. If a male and a female, selected from +each group, produce offspring, and that offspring is fertile with others +produced in the same way, the groups are races and not species. If, on +the other hand, no result ensues, or if the offspring are infertile +with others produced in the same way, they are true physiological +species. The test would be an admirable one, if, in the first place, it +were always practicable to apply it, and if, in the second, it always +yielded results susceptible of a definite interpretation. +Unfortunately, in the great majority of cases, this touchstone for +species is wholly inapplicable. + +The constitution of many wild animals is so altered by confinement that +they will not breed even with their own females, so that the negative +results obtained from crosses are of no value; and the antipathy of +wild animals of the same species for one another, or even of wild and +tame members of the same species, is ordinarily so great, that it is +hopeless to look for such unions in Nature. The hermaphrodism of most +plants, the difficulty in the way of insuring the absence of their own, +or the proper working of other pollen, are obstacles of no less +magnitude in applying the test to them. And, in both animals and +plants, is superadded the further difficulty, that experiments must be +continued over a long time for the purpose of ascertaining the +fertility of the mongrel or hybrid progeny, as well as of the first +crosses from which they spring. + +Not only do these great practical difficulties lie in the way of +applying the hybridization test, but even when this oracle can be +questioned, its replies are sometimes as doubtful as those of Delphi. +For example, cases are cited by Mr. Darwin, of plants which are more +fertile with the pollen of another species than with their own; and +there are others, such as certain 'fuci', whose male element will +fertilize the ovule of a plant of distinct species, while the males of +the latter species are ineffective with the females of the first. So +that, in the last-named instance, a physiologist, who should cross the +two species in one way, would decide that they were true species; while +another, who should cross them in the reverse way, would, with equal +justice, according to the rule, pronounce them to be mere races. +Several plants, which there is great reason to believe are mere +varieties, are almost sterile when crossed; while both animals and +plants, which have always been regarded by naturalists as of distinct +species, turn out, when the test is applied, to be perfectly fertile. +Again, the sterility or fertility of crosses seems to bear no relation +to the structural resemblances or differences of the members of any two +groups. + +Mr. Darwin has discussed this question with singular ability and +circumspection, and his conclusions are summed up as follows, at page +276 of his work:-- + +"First crosses between forms sufficiently distinct to be ranked as +species, and their hybrids, are very generally, but not universally, +sterile. The sterility is of all degrees, and is often so slight that +the two most careful experimentalists who have ever lived have come to +diametrically opposite conclusions in ranking forms by this test. The +sterility is innately variable in individuals of the same species, and +is eminently susceptible of favourable and unfavourable conditions. The +degree of sterility does not strictly follow systematic affinity, but is +governed by several curious and complex laws. It is generally +different and sometimes widely different, in reciprocal crosses between +the same two species. It is not always equal in degree in a first +cross, and in the hybrid produced from this cross. + +"In the same manner as in grafting trees, the capacity of one species or +variety to take on another is incidental on generally unknown +differences in their vegetative systems; so in crossing, the greater or +less facility of one species to unite with another is incidental on +unknown differences in their reproductive systems. There is no more +reason to think that species have been specially endowed with various +degrees of sterility to prevent them crossing and breeding in Nature, +than to think that trees have been specially endowed with various and +somewhat analogous degrees of difficulty in being grafted together, in +order to prevent them becoming inarched in our forests. + +"The sterility of first crosses between pure species, which have their +reproductive systems perfect, seems to depend on several circumstances; +in some cases largely on the early death of the embryo. The sterility +of hybrids which have their reproductive systems imperfect, and which +have had this system and their whole organization disturbed by being +compounded of two distinct species, seems closely allied to that +sterility which so frequently affects pure species when their natural +conditions of life have been disturbed. This view is supported by a +parallelism of another kind: namely, that the crossing of forms, only +slightly different, is favourable to the vigour and fertility of the +offspring; and that slight changes in the conditions of life are +apparently favourable to the vigour and fertility of all organic beings. +It is not surprising that the degree of difficulty in uniting two +species, and the degree of sterility of their hybrid offspring, should +generally correspond, though due to distinct causes; for both depend on +the amount of difference of some kind between the species which are +crossed. Nor is it surprising that the facility of effecting a first +cross, the fertility of hybrids produced from it, and the capacity of +being grafted together--though this latter capacity evidently depends +on widely different circumstances--should all run to a certain extent +parallel with the systematic affinity of the forms which are subjected +to experiment; for systematic affinity attempts to express all kinds of +resemblance between all species. + +"First crosses between forms known to be varieties, or sufficiently +alike to be considered as varieties, and their mongrel offspring, are +very generally, but not quite universally, fertile. Nor is this nearly +general and perfect fertility surprising, when we remember how liable we +are to argue in a circle with respect to varieties in a state of +Nature; and when we remember that the greater number of varieties have +been produced under domestication by the selection of mere external +differences, and not of differences in the reproductive system. In all +other respects, excluding fertility, there is a close general +resemblance between hybrids and mongrels."--Pp. 276-8. + +We fully agree with the general tenor of this weighty passage; but +forcible as are these arguments, and little as the value of fertility +or infertility as a test of species may be, it must not be forgotten +that the really important fact, so far as the inquiry into the origin of +species goes, is, that there are such things in Nature as groups of +animals and of plants, whose members are incapable of fertile union +with those of other groups; and that there are such things as hybrids, +which are absolutely sterile when crossed with other hybrids. For, if +such phenomena as these were exhibited by only two of those assemblages +of living objects, to which the name of species (whether it be used in +its physiological or in its morphological sense) is given, it would +have to be accounted for by any theory of the origin of species, and +every theory which could not account for it would be, so far, +imperfect. + +Up to this point, we have been dealing with matters of fact, and the +statements which we have laid before the reader would, to the best of +our knowledge, be admitted to contain a fair exposition of what is at +present known respecting the essential properties of species, by all +who have studied the question. And whatever may be his theoretical +views, no naturalist will probably be disposed to demur to the +following summary of that exposition:-- + +Living beings, whether animals or plants, are divisible into multitudes +of distinctly definable kinds, which are morphological species. They +are also divisible into groups of individuals, which breed freely +together, tending to reproduce their like, and are physiological +species. Normally resembling their parents, the offspring of members of +these species are still liable to vary; and the variation may be +perpetuated by selection, as a race, which race, in many cases, +presents all the characteristics of a morphological species. But it is +not as yet proved that a race ever exhibits, when crossed with another +race of the same species, those phenomena of hybridization which are +exhibited by many species when crossed with other species. On the +other hand, not only is it not proved that all species give rise to +hybrids infertile 'inter se', but there is much reason to believe that, +in crossing, species exhibit every gradation from perfect sterility to +perfect fertility. + +Such are the most essential characteristics of species. Even were man +not one of them--a member of the same system and subject to the same +laws--the question of their origin, their causal connexion, that is, +with the other phenomena of the universe, must have attracted his +attention, as soon as his intelligence had raised itself above the level +of his daily wants. + +Indeed history relates that such was the case, and has embalmed for us +the speculations upon the origin of living beings, which were among the +earliest products of the dawning intellectual activity of man. In +those early days positive knowledge was not to be had, but the craving +after it needed, at all hazards, to be satisfied, and according to the +country, or the turn of thought, of the speculator, the suggestion that +all living things arose from the mud of the Nile, from a primeval egg, +or from some more anthropomorphic agency, afforded a sufficient +resting-place for his curiosity. The myths of Paganism are as dead as +Osiris or Zeus, and the man who should revive them, in opposition to +the knowledge of our time, would be justly laughed to scorn; but the +coeval imaginations current among the rude inhabitants of Palestine, +recorded by writers whose very name and age are admitted by every +scholar to be unknown, have unfortunately not yet shared their fate, +but, even at this day, are regarded by nine-tenths of the civilized +world as the authoritative standard of fact and the criterion of the +justice of scientific conclusions, in all that relates to the origin of +things, and, among them, of species. In this nineteenth century, as at +the dawn of modern physical science, the cosmogony of the +semi-barbarous Hebrew is the incubus of the philosopher and the +opprobrium of the orthodox. Who shall number the patient and earnest +seekers after truth, from the days of Galileo until now, whose lives +have been embittered and their good name blasted by the mistaken zeal +of Bibliolaters? Who shall count the host of weaker men whose sense of +truth has been destroyed in the effort to harmonize +impossibilities--whose life has been wasted in the attempt to force the +generous new wine of Science into the old bottles of Judaism, compelled +by the outcry of the same strong party? + +It is true that if philosophers have suffered, their cause has been +amply avenged. Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every +science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history +records that whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, +the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and +crushed if not annihilated; scotched, if not slain. But orthodoxy is +the Bourbon of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it +forget; and though, at present, bewildered and afraid to move, it is as +willing as ever to insist that the first chapter of Genesis contains +the beginning and the end of sound science; and to visit, with such +petty thunderbolts as its half-paralysed hands can hurl, those who +refuse to degrade Nature to the level of primitive Judaism. + +Philosophers, on the other hand, have no such aggressive tendencies. +With eyes fixed on the noble goal to which "per aspera et ardua" they +tend, they may, now and then, be stirred to momentary wrath by the +unnecessary obstacles with which the ignorant, or the malicious, +encumber, if they cannot bar, the difficult path; but why should their +souls be deeply vexed? The majesty of Fact is on their side, and the +elemental forces of Nature are working for them. Not a star comes to +the meridian at its calculated time but testifies to the justice of +their methods--their beliefs are "one with falling rain and with the +growing corn." By doubt they are established, and open inquiry is +their bosom friend. Such men have no fear of traditions however +venerable, and no respect for them when they become mischievous and +obstructive; but they have better than mere antiquarian business in +hand, and if dogmas, which ought to be fossil but are not, are not +forced upon their notice, they are too happy to treat them as +non-existent. + +The hypotheses respecting the origin of species which profess to stand +upon a scientific basis, and, as such, alone demand serious attention, +are of two kinds. The one, the "special creation" hypothesis, presumes +every species to have originated from one or more stocks, these not +being the result of the modification of any other form of living +matter--or arising by natural agencies--but being produced, as such, by +a supernatural creative act. + +The other, the so-called "transmutation" hypothesis, considers that all +existing species are the result of the modification of pre-existing +species, and those of their predecessors, by agencies similar to those +which at the present day produce varieties and races, and therefore in +an altogether natural way; and it is a probable, though not a necessary +consequence of this hypothesis, that all living beings have arisen from +a single stock. With respect to the origin of this primitive stock, or +stocks, the doctrine of the origin of species is obviously not +necessarily concerned. The transmutation hypothesis, for example, is +perfectly consistent either with the conception of a special creation +of the primitive germ, or with the supposition of its having arisen, as +a modification of inorganic matter, by natural causes. + +The doctrine of special creation owes its existence very largely to the +supposed necessity of making science accord with the Hebrew cosmogony; +but it is curious to observe that, as the doctrine is at present +maintained by men of science, it is as hopelessly inconsistent with the +Hebrew view as any other hypothesis. + +If there be any result which has come more clearly out of geological +investigation than another, it is, that the vast series of extinct +animals and plants is not divisible, as it was once supposed to be, +into distinct groups, separated by sharply-marked boundaries. There are +no great gulfs between epochs and formations--no successive periods +marked by the appearance of plants, of water animals, and of land +animals, 'en masse'. Every year adds to the list of links between what +the older geologists supposed to be widely separated epochs: witness the +crags linking the drift with older tertiaries; the Maestricht beds +linking the tertiaries with the chalk; the St. Cassian beds exhibiting +an abundant fauna of mixed mesozoic and palaeozoic types, in rocks of +an epoch once supposed to be eminently poor in life; witness, lastly, +the incessant disputes as to whether a given stratum shall be reckoned +devonian or carboniferous, silurian or devonian, cambrian or silurian. + +This truth is further illustrated in a most interesting manner by the +impartial and highly competent testimony of M. Pictet, from whose +calculations of what percentage of the genera of animals, existing in +any formation, lived during the preceding formation, it results that in +no case is the proportion less than 'one-third', or 33 per cent. It is +the triassic formation, or the commencement of the mesozoic epoch, +which has received the smallest inheritance from preceding ages. The +other formations not uncommonly exhibit 60, 80, or even 94 per cent. of +genera in common with those whose remains are imbedded in their +predecessor. Not only is this true, but the subdivisions of each +formation exhibit new species characteristic of, and found only in, +them; and, in many cases, as in the lias for example, the separate beds +of these subdivisions are distinguished by well-marked and peculiar +forms of life. A section, a hundred feet thick, will exhibit, at +different heights, a dozen species of ammonite, none of which passes +beyond its particular zone of limestone, or clay, into the zone below it +or into that above it; so that those who adopt the doctrine of special +creation must be prepared to admit, that at intervals of time, +corresponding with the thickness of these beds, the Creator thought fit +to interfere with the natural course of events for the purpose of +making a new ammonite. It is not easy to transplant oneself into the +frame of mind of those who can accept such a conclusion as this, on any +evidence short of absolute demonstration; and it is difficult to see +what is to be gained by so doing, since, as we have said, it is obvious +that such a view of the origin of living beings is utterly opposed to +the Hebrew cosmogony. Deserving no aid from the powerful arm of +Bibliolatry, then, does the received form of the hypothesis of special +creation derive any support from science or sound logic? Assuredly not +much. The arguments brought forward in its favour all take one form: +If species were not supernaturally created, we cannot understand the +facts 'x' or 'y', or 'z'; we cannot understand the structure of animals +or plants, unless we suppose they were contrived for special ends; we +cannot understand the structure of the eye, except by supposing it to +have been made to see with; we cannot understand instincts, unless we +suppose animals to have been miraculously endowed with them. + +As a question of dialectics, it must be admitted that this sort of +reasoning is not very formidable to those who are not to be frightened +by consequences. It is an 'argumentum ad ignorantiam'--take this +explanation or be ignorant. + +But suppose we prefer to admit our ignorance rather than adopt a +hypothesis at variance with all the teachings of Nature? Or, suppose +for a moment we admit the explanation, and then seriously ask ourselves +how much the wiser are we; what does the explanation explain? Is it +any more than a grandiloquent way of announcing the fact, that we really +know nothing about the matter? A phenomenon is explained when it is +shown to be a case of some general law of Nature; but the supernatural +interposition of the Creator can, by the nature of the case, exemplify +no law, and if species have really arisen in this way, it is absurd to +attempt to discuss their origin. + +Or, lastly, let us ask ourselves whether any amount of evidence which +the nature of our faculties permits us to attain, can justify us in +asserting that any phenomenon is out of the reach of natural +causation. To this end it is obviously necessary that we should know +all the consequences to which all possible combinations, continued +through unlimited time, can give rise. If we knew these, and found +none competent to originate species, we should have good ground for +denying their origin by natural causation. Till we know them, any +hypothesis is better than one which involves us in such miserable +presumption. + +But the hypothesis of special creation is not only a mere specious mask +for our ignorance; its existence in Biology marks the youth and +imperfection of the science. For what is the history of every science +but the history of the elimination of the notion of creative, or other +interferences, with the natural order of the phenomena which are the +subject-matter of that science? When Astronomy was young "the morning +stars sang together for joy," and the planets were guided in their +courses by celestial hands. Now, the harmony of the stars has resolved +itself into gravitation according to the inverse squares of the +distances, and the orbits of the planets are deducible from the laws of +the forces which allow a schoolboy's stone to break a window. The +lightning was the angel of the Lord; but it has pleased Providence, in +these modern times, that science should make it the humble messenger of +man, and we know that every flash that shimmers about the horizon on a +summer's evening is determined by ascertainable conditions, and that +its direction and brightness might, if our knowledge of these were +great enough, have been calculated. + +The solvency of great mercantile companies rests on the validity of the +laws which have been ascertained to govern the seeming irregularity of +that human life which the moralist bewails as the most uncertain of +things; plague, pestilence, and famine are admitted, by all but fools, +to be the natural result of causes for the most part fully within human +control, and not the unavoidable tortures inflicted by wrathful +Omnipotence upon His helpless handiwork. + +Harmonious order governing eternally continuous progress--the web and +woof of matter and force interweaving by slow degrees, without a broken +thread, that veil which lies between us and the Infinite--that universe +which alone we know or can know; such is the picture which science +draws of the world, and in proportion as any part of that picture is in +unison with the rest, so may we feel sure that it is rightly painted. +Shall Biology alone remain out of harmony with her sister sciences? + +Such arguments against the hypothesis of the direct creation of species +as these are plainly enough deducible from general considerations; but +there are, in addition, phenomena exhibited by species themselves, and +yet not so much a part of their very essence as to have required +earlier mention, which are in the highest degree perplexing, if we adopt +the popularly accepted hypothesis. Such are the facts of distribution +in space and in time; the singular phenomena brought to light by the +study of development; the structural relations of species upon which +our systems of classification are founded; the great doctrines of +philosophical anatomy, such as that of homology, or of the community of +structural plan exhibited by large groups of species differing very +widely in their habits and functions. + +The species of animals which inhabit the sea on opposite sides of the +isthmus of Panama are wholly distinct* the animals and plants which +inhabit islands are commonly distinct from those of the neighbouring +mainlands, and yet have a similarity of aspect. + + [footnote] *Recent investigations tend to show that this + statement is not strictly accurate.--1870. + +The mammals of the latest tertiary epoch in the Old and New Worlds +belong to the same genera, or family groups, as those which now inhabit +the same great geographical area. The crocodilian reptiles which +existed in the earliest secondary epoch were similar in general +structure to those now living, but exhibit slight differences in their +vertebrae, nasal passages, and one or two other points. The +guinea-pig has teeth which are shed before it is born, and hence can +never subserve the masticatory purpose for which they seem contrived, +and, in like manner, the female dugong has tusks which never cut the +gum. All the members of the same great group run through similar +conditions in their development, and all their parts, in the adult +state, are arranged according to the same plan. Man is more like a +gorilla than a gorilla is like a lemur. Such are a few, taken at +random, among the multitudes of similar facts which modern research has +established; but when the student seeks for an explanation of them from +the supporters of the received hypothesis of the origin of species, the +reply he receives is, in substance, of Oriental simplicity and +brevity--"Mashallah! it so pleases God!" There are different species on +opposite sides of the isthmus of Panama, because they were created +different on the two sides. The pliocene mammals are like the existing +ones, because such was the plan of creation; and we find rudimental +organs and similarity of plan, because it has pleased the Creator to set +before Himself a "divine exemplar or archetype," and to copy it in His +works; and somewhat ill, those who hold this view imply, in some of +them. That such verbal hocus-pocus should be received as science will +one day be regarded as evidence of the low state of intelligence in the +nineteenth century, just as we amuse ourselves with the phraseology +about Nature's abhorrence of a vacuum, wherewith Torricelli's +compatriots were satisfied to explain the rise of water in a pump. And +be it recollected that this sort of satisfaction works not only +negative but positive ill, by discouraging inquiry, and so depriving +man of the usufruct of one of the most fertile fields of his great +patrimony, Nature. + +The objections to the doctrine of the origin of species by special +creation which have been detailed, must have occurred, with more or +less force, to the mind of every one who has seriously and +independently considered the subject. It is therefore no wonder that, +from time to time, this hypothesis should have been met by counter +hypotheses, all as well, and some better founded than itself; and it is +curious to remark that the inventors of the opposing views seem to have +been led into them as much by their knowledge of geology, as by their +acquaintance with biology. In fact, when the mind has once admitted the +conception of the gradual production of the present physical state of +our globe, by natural causes operating through long ages of time, it +will be little disposed to allow that living beings have made their +appearance in another way, and the speculations of De Maillet and his +successors are the natural complement of Scilla's demonstration of the +true nature of fossils. + +A contemporary of Newton and of Leibnitz, sharing therefore in the +intellectual activity of the remarkable age which witnessed the birth +of modern physical science, Benoit de Maillet spent a long life as a +consular agent of the French Government in various Mediterranean ports. +For sixteen years, in fact, he held the office of Consul-General in +Egypt, and the wonderful phenomena offered by the valley of the Nile +appear to have strongly impressed his mind, to have directed his +attention to all facts of a similar order which came within his +observation, and to have led him to speculate on the origin of the +present condition of our globe and of its inhabitants. But, with all +his ardour for science, De Maillet seems to have hesitated to publish +views which, notwithstanding the ingenious attempts to reconcile them +with the Hebrew hypothesis contained in the preface to "Telliamed," +were hardly likely to be received with favour by his contemporaries. + +But a short time had elapsed since more than one of the great anatomists +and physicists of the Italian school had paid dearly for their +endeavours to dissipate some of the prevalent errors; and their +illustrious pupil, Harvey, the founder of modern physiology, had not +fared so well, in a country less oppressed by the benumbing influences +of theology, as to tempt any man to follow his example. Probably not +uninfluenced by these considerations, his Catholic majesty's +Consul-General for Egypt kept his theories to himself throughout a long +life, for 'Telliamed,' the only scientific work which is known to have +proceeded from his pen, was not printed till 1735, when its author had +reached the ripe age of seventy-nine; and though De Maillet lived three +years longer, his book was not given to the world before 1748. Even +then it was anonymous to those who were not in the secret of the +anagrammatic character of its title; and the preface and dedication are +so worded as, in case of necessity, to give the printer a fair chance +of falling back on the excuse that the work was intended for a mere 'jeu +d'esprit'. + +The speculations of the suppositious Indian sage, though quite as sound +as those of many a "Mosaic Geology," which sells exceedingly well, have +no great value if we consider them by the light of modern science. The +waters are supposed to have originally covered the whole globe; to have +deposited the rocky masses which compose its mountains by processes +comparable to those which are now forming mud, sand, and shingle; and +then to have gradually lowered their level, leaving the spoils of their +animal and vegetable inhabitants embedded in the strata. As the dry +land appeared, certain of the aquatic animals are supposed to have +taken to it, and to have become gradually adapted to terrestrial and +aerial modes of existence. But if we regard the general tenor and style +of the reasoning in relation to the state of knowledge of the day, two +circumstances appear very well worthy of remark. The first, that De +Maillet had a notion of the modifiability of living forms (though +without any precise information on the subject), and how such +modifiability might account for the origin of species; the second, +that he very clearly apprehended the great modern geological doctrine, +so strongly insisted upon by Hutton, and so ably and comprehensively +expounded by Lyell, that we must look to existing causes for the +explanation of past geological events. Indeed, the following passage +of the preface, in which De Maillet is supposed to speak of the Indian +philosopher Telliamed, his 'alter ego', might have been written by +the most philosophical uniformitarian of the present day:-- + +"Ce qu'il y a d'etonnant, est que pour arriver a ces connoissances il +semble avoir perverti l'ordre naturel, puisqu'au lieu de s'attacher +d'abord a rechercher l'origine de notre globe il a commence par +travailler a s'instruire de la nature. Mais a l'entendre, ce +renversement de l'ordre a ete pour lui l'effet d'un genie favorable qui +l'a conduit pas a pas et comme par la main aux decouvertes les plus +sublimes. C'est en decomposant la substance de ce globe par une +anatomie exacte de toutes ses parties qu'il a premierement appris de +quelles matieres il etait compose et quels arrangemens ces memes +matieres observaient entre elles. Ces lumieres jointes a l'esprit de +comparaison toujours necessaire a quiconque entreprend de percer les +voiles dont la nature aime a se cacher, ont servi de guide a notre +philosophe pour parvenir a des connoissances plus interessantes. Par +la matiere et l'arrangement de ces compositions il pretend avoir +reconnu quelle est la veritable origine de ce globe que nous habitons, +comment et par qui il a ete forme."--Pp. xix. xx. + +But De Maillet was before his age, and as could hardly fail to happen to +one who speculated on a zoological and botanical question before +Linnaeus, and on a physiological problem before Haller, he fell into +great errors here and there; and hence, perhaps, the general neglect of +his work. Robinet's speculations are rather behind, than in advance +of, those of De Maillet; and though Linnaeus may have played with the +hypothesis of transmutation, it obtained no serious support until +Lamarck adopted it, and advocated it with great ability in his +'Philosophie Zoologique.' + +Impelled towards the hypothesis of the transmutation of species, partly +by his general cosmological and geological views; partly by the +conception of a graduated, though irregularly branching, scale of +being, which had arisen out of his profound study of plants and of the +lower forms of animal life, Lamarck, whose general line of thought often +closely resembles that of De Maillet, made a great advance upon the +crude and merely speculative manner in which that writer deals with the +question of the origin of living beings, by endeavouring to find +physical causes competent to effect that change of one species into +another, which De Maillet had only supposed to occur. And Lamarck +conceived that he had found in Nature such causes, amply sufficient for +the purpose in view. It is a physiological fact, he says, that organs +are increased in size by action, atrophied by inaction; it is another +physiological fact that modifications produced are transmissible to +offspring. Change the actions of an animal, therefore, and you will +change its structure, by increasing the development of the parts newly +brought into use and by the diminution of those less used; but by +altering the circumstances which surround it you will alter its +actions, and hence, in the long run, change of circumstance must +produce change of organization. All the species of animals, therefore, +are, in Lamarck's view, the result of the indirect action of changes of +circumstance, upon those primitive germs which he considered to have +originally arisen, by spontaneous generation, within the waters of the +globe. It is curious, however, that Lamarck should insist so strongly* +as he has done, that circumstances never in any degree directly modify +the form or the organization of animals, but only operate by changing +their wants and consequently their actions; for he thereby brings upon +himself the obvious question, how, then, do plants, which cannot be +said to have wants or actions, become modified? To this he replies, +that they are modified by the changes in their nutritive processes, +which are effected by changing circumstances; and it does not seem to +have occurred to him that such changes might be as well supposed to +take place among animals. + + [footnote] *See 'Phil. Zoologique,' vol. i. p. 222, 'et seq.' + +When we have said that Lamarck felt that mere speculation was not the +way to arrive at the origin of species, but that it was necessary, in +order to the establishment of any sound theory on the subject, to +discover by observation or otherwise, some 'vera causa', competent to +give rise to them; that he affirmed the true order of classification to +coincide with the order of their development one from another; that he +insisted on the necessity of allowing sufficient time, very strongly; +and that all the varieties of instinct and reason were traced back by +him to the same cause as that which has given rise to species, we have +enumerated his chief contributions to the advance of the question. On +the other hand, from his ignorance of any power in Nature competent to +modify the structure of animals, except the development of parts, or +atrophy of them, in consequence of a change of needs, Lamarck was led +to attach infinitely greater weight than it deserves to this agency, +and the absurdities into which he was led have met with deserved +condemnation. Of the struggle for existence, on which, as we shall see, +Mr. Darwin lays such great stress, he had no conception; indeed, he +doubts whether there really are such things as extinct species, unless +they be such large animals as may have met their death at the hands of +man; and so little does he dream of there being any other destructive +causes at work, that, in discussing the possible existence of fossil +shells, he asks, "Pourquoi d'ailleurs seroient-ils perdues des que +l'homme n'a pu operer leur destruction?" ('Phil. Zool.,' vol. i. p. +77.) Of the influence of selection Lamarck has as little notion, and he +makes no use of the wonderful phenomena which are exhibited by +domesticated animals, and illustrate its powers. The vast influence of +Cuvier was employed against the Lamarckian views, and, as the +untenability of some of his conclusions was easily shown, his doctrines +sank under the opprobrium of scientific, as well as of theological, +heterodoxy. Nor have the efforts made of late years to revive them +tended to re-establish their credit in the minds of sound thinkers +acquainted with the facts of the case; indeed it may be doubted whether +Lamarck has not suffered more from his friends than from his foes. + +Two years ago, in fact, though we venture to question if even the +strongest supporters of the special creation hypothesis had not, now +and then, an uneasy consciousness that all was not right, their +position seemed more impregnable than ever, if not by its own inherent +strength, at any rate by the obvious failure of all the attempts which +had been made to carry it. On the other hand, however much the few, +who thought deeply on the question of species, might be repelled by the +generally received dogmas, they saw no way of escaping from them save by +the adoption of suppositions so little justified by experiment or by +observation as to be at least equally distasteful. + +The choice lay between two absurdities and a middle condition of uneasy +scepticism; which last, however unpleasant and unsatisfactory, was +obviously the only justifiable state of mind under the circumstances. + +Such being the general ferment in the minds of naturalists, it is no +wonder that they mustered strong in the rooms of the Linnaean Society, +on the 1st of July of the year 1858, to hear two papers by authors +living on opposite sides of the globe, working out their results +independently, and yet professing to have discovered one and the same +solution of all the problems connected with species. The one of these +authors was an able naturalist, Mr. Wallace, who had been employed for +some years in studying the productions of the islands of the Indian +Archipelago, and who had forwarded a memoir embodying his views to Mr. +Darwin, for communication to the Linnaean Society. On perusing the +essay, Mr. Darwin was not a little surprised to find that it embodied +some of the leading ideas of a great work which he had been preparing +for twenty years, and parts of which, containing a development of the +very same views, had been perused by his private friends fifteen or +sixteen years before. Perplexed in what manner to do full justice both +to his friend and to himself, Mr. Darwin placed the matter in the hands +of Dr. Hooker and Sir Charles Lyell, by whose advice he communicated a +brief abstract of his own views to the Linnaean Society, at the same +time that Mr. Wallace's paper was read. Of that abstract, the work on +the 'Origin of Species' is an enlargement; but a complete statement of +Mr. Darwin's doctrine is looked for in the large and well-illustrated +work which he is said to be preparing for publication. + +The Darwinian hypothesis has the merit of being eminently simple and +comprehensible in principle, and its essential positions may be stated +in a very few words: all species have been produced by the development +of varieties from common stocks; by the conversion of these, first into +permanent races and then into new species, by the process of 'natural +selection', which process is essentially identical with that artificial +selection by which man has originated the races of domestic +animals--the 'struggle for existence' taking the place of man, and +exerting, in the case of natural selection, that selective action which +he performs in artificial selection. + +The evidence brought forward by Mr. Darwin in support of his hypothesis +is of three kinds. First, he endeavours to prove that species may be +originated by selection; secondly, he attempts to show that natural +causes are competent to exert selection; and thirdly, he tries to prove +that the most remarkable and apparently anomalous phenomena exhibited by +the distribution, development, and mutual relations of species, can be +shown to be deducible from the general doctrine of their origin, which +he propounds, combined with the known facts of geological change; and +that, even if all these phenomena are not at present explicable by it, +none are necessarily inconsistent with it. + +There cannot be a doubt that the method of inquiry which Mr. Darwin has +adopted is not only rigorously in accordance with the canons of +scientific logic, but that it is the only adequate method. Critics +exclusively trained in classics or in mathematics, who have never +determined a scientific fact in their lives by induction from +experiment or observation, prate learnedly about Mr. Darwin's method, +which is not inductive enough, not Baconian enough, forsooth, for +them. But even if practical acquaintance with the process of scientific +investigation is denied them, they may learn, by the perusal of Mr. +Mill's admirable chapter "On the Deductive Method," that there are +multitudes of scientific inquiries in which the method of pure +induction helps the investigator but a very little way. + +"The mode of investigation," says Mr. Mill, "which, from the proved +inapplicability of direct methods of observation and experiment, +remains to us as the main source of the knowledge we possess, or can +acquire, respecting the conditions and laws of recurrence of the more +complex phenomena, is called, in its most general expression, the +deductive method, and consists of three operations: the first, one of +direct induction; the second, of ratiocination; and the third, of +verification." + +Now, the conditions which have determined the existence of species are +not only exceedingly complex, but, so far as the great majority of them +are concerned, are necessarily beyond our cognizance. But what Mr. +Darwin has attempted to do is in exact accordance with the rule laid +down by Mr. Mill; he has endeavoured to determine certain great facts +inductively, by observation and experiment; he has then reasoned from +the data thus furnished; and lastly, he has tested the validity of his +ratiocination by comparing his deductions with the observed facts of +Nature. Inductively, Mr. Darwin endeavours to prove that species arise +in a given way. Deductively, he desires to show that, if they arise in +that way, the facts of distribution, development, classification, etc., +may be accounted for, 'i.e.' may be deduced from their mode of origin, +combined with admitted changes in physical geography and climate, during +an indefinite period. And this explanation, or coincidence of +observed with deduced facts, is, so far as it extends, a verification +of the Darwinian view. + +There is no fault to be found with Mr. Darwin's method, then; but it is +another question whether he has fulfilled all the conditions imposed by +that method. Is it satisfactorily proved, in fact, that species may be +originated by selection? that there is such a thing as natural +selection? that none of the phenomena exhibited by species are +inconsistent with the origin of species in this way? If these +questions can be answered in the affirmative, Mr. Darwin's view steps +out of the rank of hypotheses into those of proved theories; but, so +long as the evidence at present adduced falls short of enforcing that +affirmation, so long, to our minds, must the new doctrine be content to +remain among the former--an extremely valuable, and in the highest +degree probable, doctrine, indeed the only extant hypothesis which is +worth anything in a scientific point of view; but still a hypothesis, +and not yet the theory of species. + +After much consideration, and with assuredly no bias against Mr. +Darwin's views, it is our clear conviction that, as the evidence +stands, it is not absolutely proven that a group of animals, having all +the characters exhibited by species in Nature, has ever been originate +by selection, whether artificial or natural. Groups having the +morphological character of species, distinct and permanent races in +fact, have been so produced over and over again; but there is no +positive evidence, at present, that any group of animals has, by +variation and selective breeding, given rise to another group which +was, even in the least degree, infertile with the first. Mr. Darwin is +perfectly aware of this weak point, and brings forward a multitude of +ingenious and important arguments to diminish the force of the +objection. We admit the value of these arguments to their fullest +extent; nay, we will go so far as to express our belief that +experiments, conducted by a skilful physiologist, would very probably +obtain the desired production of mutually more or less infertile +breeds from a common stock, in a comparatively few years; but still, +as the case stands at present, this "little rift within the lute" is +not to be disguised nor overlooked. + +In the remainder of Mr. Darwin's argument our own private ingenuity has +not hitherto enabled us to pick holes of any great importance; and +judging by what we hear and read, other adventurers in the same field +do not seem to have been much more fortunate. It has been urged, for +instance, that in his chapters on the struggle for existence and on +natural selection, Mr. Darwin does not so much prove that natural +selection does occur, as that it must occur; but, in fact, no other +sort of demonstration is attainable. A race does not attract our +attention in Nature until it has, in all probability, existed for a +considerable time, and then it is too late to inquire into the +conditions of its origin. Again, it is said that there is no real +analogy between the selection which takes place under domestication, by +human influence, and any operation which can be effected by Nature, for +man interferes intelligently. Reduced to its elements, this argument +implies that an effect produced with trouble by an intelligent agent +must, 'a fortiori', be more troublesome, if not impossible, to an +unintelligent agent. Even putting aside the question whether Nature, +acting as she does according to definite and invariable laws, can be +rightly called an unintelligent agent, such a position as this is wholly +untenable. Mix salt and sand, and it shall puzzle the wisest of men, +with his mere natural appliances, to separate all the grains of sand +from all the grains of salt; but a shower of rain will effect the same +object in ten minutes. And so, while man may find it tax all his +intelligence to separate any variety which arises, and to breed +selectively from it, the destructive agencies incessantly at work in +Nature, if they find one variety to be more soluble in circumstances +than the other, will inevitably, in the long run, eliminate it. + +A frequent and a just objection to the Lamarckian hypothesis of the +transmutation of species is based upon the absence of transitional +forms between many species. But against the Darwinian hypothesis this +argument has no force. Indeed, one of the most valuable and suggestive +parts of Mr. Darwin's work is that in which he proves, that the frequent +absence of transitions is a necessary consequence of his doctrine, and +that the stock whence two or more species have sprung, need in no +respect be intermediate between these species. If any two species +have arisen from a common stock in the same way as the carrier and the +pouter, say, have arisen from the rock-pigeon, then the common stock of +these two species need be no more intermediate between the two than the +rock-pigeon is between the carrier and pouter. Clearly appreciate the +force of this analogy, and all the arguments against the origin of +species by selection, based on the absence of transitional forms, fall +to the ground. And Mr. Darwin's position might, we think, have been +even stronger than it is if he had not embarrassed himself with the +aphorism, "Natura non facit saltum," which turns up so often in his +pages. We believe, as we have said above, that Nature does make jumps +now and then, and a recognition of the fact is of no small importance +in disposing of many minor objections to the doctrine of +transmutation. + +But we must pause. The discussion of Mr. Darwin's arguments in detail +would lead us far beyond the limits within which we proposed, at +starting, to confine this article. Our object has been attained if we +have given an intelligible, however brief, account of the established +facts connected with species, and of the relation of the explanation of +those facts offered by Mr. Darwin to the theoretical views held by his +predecessors and his contemporaries, and, above all, to the +requirements of scientific logic. We have ventured to point out that it +does not, as yet, satisfy all those requirements; but we do not +hesitate to assert that it is as superior to any preceding or +contemporary hypothesis, in the extent of observational and experimental +basis on which it rests, in its rigorously scientific method, and in +its power of explaining biological phenomena, as was the hypothesis of +Copernicus to the speculations of Ptolemy. But the planetary orbits +turned out to be not quite circular after all, and, grand as was the +service Copernicus rendered to science, Kepler and Newton had to come +after him. What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too +circular? What if species should offer residual phenomena, here and +there, not explicable by natural selection? Twenty years hence +naturalists may be in a position to say whether this is, or is not, the +case; but in either event they will owe the author of 'The Origin of +Species' an immense debt of gratitude. We should leave a very wrong +impression on the reader's mind if we permitted him to suppose that the +value of that work depends wholly on the ultimate justification of the +theoretical views which it contains. On the contrary, if they were +disproved to-morrow, the book would still be the best of its kind--the +most compendious statement of well-sifted facts bearing on the doctrine +of species that has ever appeared. The chapters on Variation, on the +Struggle for Existence, on Instinct, on Hybridism, on the Imperfection +of the Geological Record, on Geographical Distribution, have not only +no equals, but, so far as our knowledge goes, no competitors, within +the range of biological literature. And viewed as a whole, we do not +believe that, since the publication of Von Baer's Researches on +Development, thirty years ago, any work has appeared calculated to +exert so large an influence, not only on the future of Biology, but in +extending the domination of Science over regions of thought into which +she has, as yet, hardly penetrated. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Origin of Species, by Huxley + diff --git a/old/thx0910.zip b/old/thx0910.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6034515 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thx0910.zip |