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Show 10 DARWINIAN.A . tains the essence of the whole, yet much of the aroma escapes in the treble distillation, or is so concentrated that the flavor is lost to the general or even to the scientific reader. The volume itself-the proof-spirit -is just condensed enough for its purpose. It will be far more widely read, and perhap's will make deeper impression, than the ·elaborate work might have done, with all its .full details of the facts upon which the author's sweeping conclusions have been grounded. At least it is a more readable book : but all the facts that can be mustered in favor of the theory are still likely to be needed. Who, upon a sing1e perusal, shall pass judgment upon a work like this, to which twenty of the best years ot' the life of a most able naturalist have been devoted 1 And who among those naturalists who hold a posit~on that entitles them to pronounce summarily upon the subject, can be expected to divest himself for the nonce of the influence of received and favorite systems 1 In fact, the controversy now opened is not likely to be settled in an off-hand way, nor is it desirable that it should be. A spirited conflict among opinions of every grade must ensue, whichto borrow an illustration from the doctrine of the book before us-may be likened to the conflict in Nature among races in the struggle for life, which Mr. Darwin describes; through which the views most favored by facts will be developed and tested by " Natural Selection," the weaker ones be destroyed in the process, and the strongest in the long-rup. alone survive. The duty of reviewing this volume in the American Journal of Science would naturally devolve upon ( THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 11 the principal editor, whose wide . observation and profound knowledge of various departments of natural history, as well as of geology, particularly qualify him for the task. But he has been obliged to lay aside his pen, and to seek in distant lands the entire repose from scientific labor so essential to the restoration of his health-a consummation devoutly to be wished, and confidently to be expected. Interested as Mr. Dana would be in this volume, he could. not be expected to accept its doctrine. Views so idealistic as those upon which his " Thoughts upon Species" 1 are grounded, will not harmonize readily with a doctrine so thoroughly naturalistic as that of Mr. Darwin. Though it is just possible that one who regards the kinds of elementary matter, such as oxygen and hydrogen, and the definite compounds of these elementary matters, and their compounds again, in the mineral kingdom, as constituting species, in the same sense, fundamentally, as that of animal and vegetable species, might admit an evolution of one species from ::mother in the latter as well as the former case. Between the doctrines of this volume and those of the other great naturalist whose name adorns the titlepage of this journal [Mr. Agassiz], the widest diver· gence appears. It is interesting to contrast the two, and, indeed, is necessary to our purpose; for this contrast brings out most prominently, and sets in strongest light and shade, the main features of the theory of the origination of species by means of Natural Selection. The ordinary and generally-received view assumes the independent, specific creation of each kind of plant 1 Article in this Journal, vol. xxiv., p. 805. |