Delphi Complete Works of Samuel Butler by Samuel Butler

Author:Samuel Butler [Butler, Samuel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Delphi Classics
Published: 2015-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

From this point to the end of the book the claim is so ubiquitous, either expressly or by implication, that it is difficult to know what not to quote. I must, however, content myself with only a few more extracts. Mr. Darwin says: —

“It may be asked how far I extend the doctrine of the modification of species” ().

Again: —

“Analogy would lead me one step further, namely, to the belief that all animals and plants have descended from some one prototype . . . Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed.”

From an amœba — Adam, in fact, though not in name. This last sentence is now completely altered, as well it might be.

Again: —

“When the views entertained in this volume on the origin of species, or when analogous views are generally admitted, we can dimly foresee that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history” ().

Possibly. This now stands, “When the views advanced by me in this volume, and by Mr. Wallace, or when analogous views on the origin of species are generally admitted, we can dimly foresee,” &c. When the “Origin of Species” came out we knew nothing of any analogous views, and Mr. Darwin’s words passed unnoticed. I do not say that he knew they would, but he certainly ought to have known.

Again: —

“A grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be opened, on the causes and laws of variation, on correlation of growth, on the effects of use and disuse, on the direct action of external conditions, and so forth” ().

Buffon and Lamarck had trodden this field to some purpose, but not a hint to this effect is vouchsafed to us. Again; —

“When I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Silurian system was deposited, they seem to me to become ennobled . . . We can so far take a prophetic glance into futurity as to foretell that it will be the common and widely spread species, belonging to the larger and dominant groups, which will ultimately prevail and procreate new and dominant species.”

There is no alteration in this except that “Silurian” has become “Cambrian.”

The idyllic paragraph with which Mr. Darwin concludes his book contains no more special claim to the theory of descent en bloc than many another which I have allowed to pass unnoticed; it has been, moreover, dealt with in an earlier chapter (Chapter XII.)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.