| → slow action of the coast-waves. 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| agencies which we see still at work. 1869 1872 |
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now that we have acquired some idea of the lapse of time, we are too apt to assume, without proof, that the geological record is so perfect that it would have afforded us plain evidence of the mutation of species, if they had undergone mutation. |
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| But the chief cause of our natural unwillingness to admit that one species has given birth to other and distinct species, is that we are always slow in admitting
great
of which we do not see the
steps. The difficulty is the same as that felt by so many geologists, when Lyell first insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, and great valleys excavated, by the
→slow action of the coast-waves. The mind cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of
million years; it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many slight variations, accumulated during an almost infinite number of generations. |
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| Although I am fully convinced of the truth of the views given in this volume under the form of an abstract, I by no means expect to convince experienced naturalists whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts all viewed, during a long course of years, from a point of view directly opposite to mine. It is so easy to hide our ignorance under such expressions as the "plan of creation," "unity of design," &c., and to think that we give an explanation when we only
a fact. Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of a certain number of facts will certainly reject
theory. A few naturalists, endowed with much flexibility of mind, and who have already begun to doubt
the immutability of species, may be influenced by this volume; but I look with confidence to the
to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to
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