| → religion." A celebrated author and divine has written to me that "he has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of the Deity to believe that 1872 |
| religion." 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| ↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1872; present in 1861 1866 1869 1860 |
| A celebrated author and divine has written to me that "he has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of the Deity to believe that He created a few original forms capable of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe that He required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused by the action of His laws."
|
|
| → until recently did nearly 1869 1872 |
| have 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
| → disbelieve in 1872 |
| rejected this view of 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| reject this view of 1869 |
|
| → agencies which we see still at work. 1869 1872 |
| slow action of the coast-waves. 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
|
attraction of gravity, was also attacked by Leibnitz, "as subversive of
and inferentially of
→religion." A celebrated author and divine has written to me that "he has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of the Deity to believe that
↑
He created a few original forms capable of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe that He required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused by the action of His laws." Why, it may be asked,
→until recently did nearly
the most eminent living naturalists and geologists
→disbelieve in
the mutability of
It cannot be asserted that organic beings in a state of nature are subject to no variation; it cannot be proved that the amount of variation in the course of long ages is a limited quantity; no clear distinction has been, or can be, drawn between species and well-marked varieties. It cannot be maintained that species when intercrossed are invariably sterile, and varieties invariably fertile; or that sterility is a special endowment and sign of creation. The belief that species were immutable productions was almost unavoidable as long as the history of the world was thought to be of short duration; and 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. |
|
| 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
→agencies which we see still at work. 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. |
|
| 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
|
