THE QUARTERLY

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.

APRIL, 1866.

I. DARWIN AND HIS TEACHINGS.

(Illustrated.)

Ir may seem strange to many thinking men, and to posterity it will doubtless appear inexplicable, that at this era in his history Man should still be obliged to approach with hesitation and reserve a subject so matter-of-fact as the Origin of Species, and that the publication of his views concerning his own animal nature and origin should always be accompanied by grave misgivings. But when we remember how few there are who can dissociate such inquiries from their religious creed, and with what reluctance such persons venture upon investigations that might have a tendency to shake the faith in which they have been educated; when we consider that many professors of theology conceive it to be their duty to foster these misgivings on the part of their "flocks," and to denounce men of science as instruments of the Evil one; then indeed it is not surprising that great courage should be needed for the exercise of unfettered thought and for the expression of what may be regarded as heterodox opinions. These checks upon the intellectual development of the human race, and this slow growth of free inquiry, are not, however, entirely without their advantages, nay, paradoxical as it may seem, they are in some degree essential to the steady progress of truth. The wisest men frequently err, and there are many who would have been thankful if an unfriendly critic had nipped some well-matured theory in the bud; the enterprising and impetuous reformer stands in greatest need of controlling agencies and adverse judgments; and the masses would remain stagnant and uninfluenced by men of thought and observation if these were continually pushing onward heedless of the difficulties and disdaining the shortcomings of the multitudes, whom they should seek to lead, and not to drive along the tortuous and thorny paths of discovery. Nothing, indeed, would be more unfortunate than if, at the present day, when man's thoughts outstrip his power of locomotion, there should be too great leniency in the judgment of new dogmas, for

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there would soon be a transition from liberty to licence, which would inevitably be succeeded by a reaction fatal to progress. It appears wholly unnecessary to seek examples of the truth of these propositions, for who that will be at the trouble of thinking over the names of men conspicuous for their attainments in any department of human knowledge, in science, politics, or literature, can fail to alight upon numerous apt illustrations; but nowhere, we think, could a more perfect exemplification of what has here been advanced be found, than in the publication, reception, and influence of the teachings of Charles Darwin.

In one place we find the author and his theories vehemently denounced as subversive of all religious and moral truth; in another, he is held up as the founder of a new faith, and is almost deified by men who can see in nature nothing but a self-acting machine, whilst in Darwin, who is an apt student of nature, they manage to perceive a master-mind!

It has been chiefly urged against his theory of "Natural Selection," by persons otherwise disposed to adopt his Zoological doctrine, that he attributes too much to "Nature," and too little to God. "It has been said," he himself remarks,* "that I speak of natural selection as an active power or Deity, but who objects to an author speaking of the attraction of gravity as ruling the movements of the planets? Everyone knows what is meant and implied by such metaphorical expressions; and they are almost necessary for brevity." But this and other explanations or justifications which appear in the later, but not in the early editions of his master-work,† do not seem to remove what is decidedly the objectionable portion of his theory, nor to strengthen its weak points. We are not now speaking of the religious or irreligious tendency of the omission, but simply of the defect in his biological dogma, for, as we shall endeavour to show," Natural Selection" is of itself not sufficient to explain the phenomena, past and present, of nature. Or, lest we should be met on the threshold of our inquiry by the objection that the illustrious naturalist does not claim for "Natural Selection" any such power, let us rather say that all the causes denoted by him, whether clearly, or (as it appears to us in some cases) ambiguously, are insufficient to produce even the phenomena included by him within the limits of his law, much less to accomplish those results which some of his disciples have justly stated, must follow as a matter of course from its admission, although he studiously avoids their nearer observation or discussion.

In these and other remarks upon Darwin's views, let it be clearly

* Origin of Species,' p. 85. (Murray.) Unless otherwise stated, our references will always be to the third edition, 1861.

+ Compare, for example, Origin of Species,' first edition, p. 81, with third edition, pp. 84 and 85, where a paragraph is inserted; also, first edition, p. 83, with third edition, p. 87, where "natural selection" is substituted for "nature."

understood that we have no ambition to be reckoned among his censors; but whilst we admit his right of free speech, and applaud his fearless exercise of it, we feel quite justified, without rendering ourselves subject to the imputation of disrespect towards a great thinker and (judging from his works) a good man, in handling bis dogmas without ceremony or reservation.

Whilst it is impossible not to perceive in his writings the dictates of a heart naturally reverential towards God and full of sympathy for his fellow-men,* there can be no doubt that the general body of his readers, whether lay or clerical, scientific or popular, must necessarily have received the impression that he endeavours to force the Deity out of sight, and to endow "Natural Selection" with Omnipotence and Omniscience. Take, for example, the following sentences from among many similar ones, which may be found even in the later and corrected edition of his work on the 'Origin of Species: '

"As man can produce, and certainly has produced a great result by his methodical and unconscious means of Selection, what may not Natural Selection effect? Man can act only on external and visible characters; Nature (if I may be allowed thus to personify the natural preservation of varying and favoured individuals during the struggle for existence) cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they are useful to any being. She can act on every internal organ, on every shade of constitutional difference, on the whole machinery of life. Man selects only for his own good— Nature only for that of the being which she tends. Every selected character is fully exercised by her, and the being is placed under well-suited conditions of life."t

In the earlier editions, the word "Nature" stood for "Natural Selection," underlined in the foregoing extract, and the italicised sentence, intended to be explanatory of the latter term, was omitted altogether. Here, and in many other parts of his work, where the desire for "brevity" cannot be pleaded as an excuse, the author manifestly endows "Nature" with the intelligent faculty of designing and planning, and when it is remembered how rapidly (often indeed too rapidly) public criticism now follows the publication of new works; how these are devoured on their first appearance by literary gourmands before they can be carefully digested by experienced and thoughtful men of science, it will be clear that the new doctrine of Darwin must have borne with it an element far more antagonistic to its own universal acceptance than any that have since been associated with it by the more impetuous and indiscreet of

* See his Naturalist's Voyage round the World' (tenth edition, Murray, 1860), pp. 158, 500, 503; Origin of Species,' pp. 515, 525; 'On the Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilized by Insects' (Murray), p. 2. + 'Origin of Species,' p. 87.