OCR Text |
Show 12 INTROD rJCTION. a single progenitor! So it is, if we look to the structure of an individual animal or plant, when we see the fore and bind limbs the skull and vertebrre, the jaws and legs of a crab, the ~etals, stamens, and pistils of a flower, built on ~he same type or pattern. During the. many changes to .which in the course of time all organic bemgs have been subjected, certain organs or parts have occasionally become .at first of little use and ultimately superfluous; and tho retention of such parts in a rudimentary and utterly useless conditio~ c~n, on the descent-theoty, be sim1ly understood. On the pnnc1ple of modifications being inherited at the same age in the child, at which each successive variation first appeared in the parent, we shall see why rudimentary parts and organs are generally well developed in the individual at a very early age. On the same principle of inheritance at corresponding ages, and on the principle of variations not generally supervening at a very ea~ly period of embryonic growth (and both these principles can be shown to be probable from direct evidence), that most "vonderfnl fact in the whole round of natural history, namely, the similarity of members of the same great class in their embryonic condition,- the embryo, for instance, of a mammal, bird, reptile, and fi.'h being barely distinguishable,- becomes simply intelligible. It is the consideration and explanation of such facts as these which has convinced me that the theory of descent with modification by means of natural selection is in the main true. These facts have as yet received no explanation on the theory of independent Creations; they cannot be grouped together under one point of view, but each has to be considered as an ultimate fact. As the first origin of life on this earth, as well as the continued life of each individual, is at present quite beyond the seope of science, I do not wish to lay much stress on the greater simplicity of the view of a few forms, or of only one form, having been originally created, instead of innumerable miraculous creations having been necessary at innumerable periods ; though this more simple view accords well with 1\Iaupertuis's philo ophical axiom "of least action." In considering how far the theory of natural selection may be NATURAL SELECTION. 13 extenderl,-that is, in determining from how many progenitors the inhabitants of the world have descended,-we may conclude that at least all the members of the same class have descended from a single ance tor. A number of organic beings are included in the same class, because they present, independently of their habits of life, the same fundamental type of struct~re, and because they graduate into each other. Moreover, members of the same class can in most cases be shown to be closely alike at an early embryonic age. These facts can be explained on the belief of their descent from a common form; therefore it may be safely admitted that all the members of the same class have descended from one progenitor. But as the members of quite dis6nct classes have something in common in structure and much in common in constitution, analogy and the simplicity of the view would lead us one step further, and to infer as probable that all living creatures have descended from a single prototype. I hope that the reader will pause before coming to any final and hostile conclusion on the theory of natural selection. It is the facts and views to be hereafter given which have convinced me of the truth of the theory. The reader may consult my 'Origin of Species,' for a general sket ·h of the whole subject; but in that work he has to take many statements on trust. In considering the theory of natural selection, he will assuredly meet with weighty difficulties, but these difficulties relate chiefly to subjects-such as the degree of perfection of the geological record, the means of distribution, the possibility of transitions in organs, &c.-on wl1ich we are confessedly ignorant; nor do we know how ignorant we are. If we are much more ignorant than is generally supposed, most of these difficulties wholly disappear. Let the reader reflect on the difficulty of looking at whole classes of facts from a new point of Yiew. Let. him observe how slowly, but surely, the noble views of Lyell on the gradual cllanges now in progress on the earth's surface have been acr~ pted as sufficient to account for all that we see in its past history. The present action of natural seleetion may seem more or less probable; but I believe in the truth of the ·theory, |