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Science has to do with the facts and laws of nature. But here the question concerns the origin of such facts. " Here," says Dr. Gray, " proofs, in the proper sense of the word, are not to be had. We are beyond the region of demonstration, and have only proba- bilities to consider." ^ Christians have a right to protest against the arraying of probabilities against the clear teachings of Scrip- ture. It is not easy to estimate the evil that is done by eminent men throwing the weight of their authority on the side of unbelief, influenced by a mere balance of probabilities in one department, to the neglect of the most convincing proofs of a different kind. They treat, for example, the question of the unity of the human race, exclusively as a zoological question, and ignore the testimony of history, of language, and of Scripture. Thus they often decide agamst the Bible on evidence that would not determine an intelli- gent jury in a suit for twenty shillings.
Admitted Difficulties in the Way of the Darwinian Theory.
One of the great excellences of Mr. Darwin is his candor. He acknowledges that there are grave objections against the doctrine which he endeavours to establish. He admits that if one species is derived by slow gradations from another, it would be natural to expect the intermediate steps, or connecting links, to be every- where visible. But he acknowledges that such are not to be found, that during the whole of the historical period, species have re- mained unchanged. They are now precisely what they were thousands of years ago. There is not the slightest indication of any one passing into another ; or of a lower advancing towards a higher. This is admitted. The only answer to the difficulty thus presented is, that the change of species is so slow a process that no indications can be reasonably expected in the few thou- sand years embraced within the limits of history. When it is fur- ther objected that geology presents the same difficulty, that the genera and species of fossil animals are just as distinct as those now living ; that new species appear at certain epochs entirely dif- ferent from those which preceded ; that the most perfect specimens of these species often appear at the beginning of a geologic period and not toward its close ; the answer is that the records of geology are too imperfect, to give us full knowledge on this subject : that innumerable intermediate and transitional forms may have passed away and left no trace of their existence. All this amounts to an
1 Atlantic Monthly, August, 1860, p. 230.
28 PART n. Ch. I. — ORIGIN OF MAN.
admission that all history and all geology are against the theory ; that they not onl}-- do not furnish any facts in its support, but that they do furnish facts which, so far as our knowledge extends, con- tradict it. In reference to these objections from geology, Mr. Dar- win says, " I can answer these questions and objections only on the supposition that the geological record is far more imperfect than most geologists believe. The number of specimens in all our museums is absolutely as nothing compared with the countless gen- erations of countless species which have certainly existed." ^ Nev- ertheless the record, as far as it goes, is against the theory.
With regard to the more serious objection that the theor}'^ assumes that matter does the work of mind, that design is accomplished without any designer, Mr. Darwin is equally candid. " Nothing at first," he says, " can appear more difficult to believe than that the more complex organs and instincts have been perfected, not by means superior to, though analogous with, human reason, but by the accumulation of innumerable slight variations, each good for tiie individual possessor. Nevertheless, this difficulty, thougii appearing to our imagination insuperably great, cannot be considered real, if we admit the following propositions, namely, that all parts of the organization and instincts offer at least individual differences, — that there is a struggle for existence leading to the preservation of profitable deviations of structure or instinct, — and, lastly, that gradations in the state of perfection of each organ may have existed, each good of its kind." ^
Again, he says, " Although the belief that an organ so perfect as the eye could have been formed by natural selection, is more than enough to stagger any one ; yet in the case of any organ, if we know of a long series of gradations in complexity, each good for its possessor; then, under changing conditions of life, there is no logical impossibility in the acquirement of any conceivable degree of perfection through natural selection." ^ Mr. Darwin refuses to be staggered by that which he says is enough to stagger any one. Give him a sufficient number of millions of years, and fortuitous complications may accomplish anything. If a rude piece of flint be found in deposits, it is declared to be the work of man, because it indicates design, while such an organ as the eye may be formed by natural selection acting blindly. This, Dr. Gray says in li s apology, is, or would be, a strange contradiction.
1 Origin of Species, p. 550. 2 /^jrf. p. 545
8 Ibil p. 251.