NUMBERS OF THE LIVING AGE WANTED. The publishers are in want of Nos. 1179 and 1180 (dated respectively Jan. 5th and Jan. 12th, 1867) of THE LIVING AGE. To subscribers, or others, who will do us the favor to send us either or both of those numbers, we will return an equivalent, either in our publications or in cash, until our wants are supplied. FOR EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually for. to pay commission for forwarding the money. Price of the First Series, in Cloth, 36 volumes, 90 dollars. The roses bloom, the violet lifts its head, And all bright hues are scattered at our feet; But never more shall echo to thy tread The garden bound to thee so dear, so sweet, Tree branches wave in the soft summer air, And birds sing blithely, but thou art not there. Thy love wrapped all earth's bright things in its glow, But when thy feet grew weary angels called, And thou didst heed their summons, and didst go With loving haste and spirit unappalled Unto the land where fadeless blossoms grow; If heaven to thee, there must be song and flow ers, So loved on earth with all thy yearning powers. And O! how many good and truthful hearted Forever more the Saviour's welcome guest! Forget us not; but that thou canst not ever, Since love like thine and ours endures forever. THEY desecrate thy name who alter it From this its old-world, quaint, Arcadian spelling, The legend of the "leafy" springtide telling, What name to symbolize thyself so fit? Let others praise thy beauty, or thy wit; To me thou imagest the nascent year, What time amid the maybells lovers dear, Hid in the growing greenery, joy to sit. Thine is no summer beauty, Rubens ripe; Around thee breathes the old idyllic life Of grassy meads, far off from city strife, And echoing softly to the pastoral pipe, Such is thy spell o'er me: all cares to wipe From out a heart that knoweth .seldom rest, Save when, like nestling fluttering to its nest, It throbs to thine with love of old Arcadian type. Tinsley's Magazine. "False facts," says Mr. Darwin," are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they by some evidence, do little harm, as every one often long endure; but false views, if supported takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened."— Descent of Man, IN Mr. Darwin's last work we possess at length a complete and thorough exposition of his matured views. He gives us the results of the patient labour of many years' unremitting investigation and of the application of a powerful and acute intel- vol. ii. p. 385. lect, combined with an extraordinarily active imagination, to an unequalled collec-tirely with Mr. Darwin in this remark, it Although we are unable to agree ention of most varied, interesting and im- none the less contains an undoubted truth. portant biological data. In his earlier writings a certain reticence veiled, though it did not hide, his ultimate conclusions as to the origin of our own species; but now all possibility of misunderstanding or of a repetition of former disclaimers on the part of any disciple is at an end, and the entire and naked truth as to the logical consequences of Darwinism is displayed with a frankness which we had a right to expect from the distinguished author. What was but obscurely hinted in the Origin of Species" is here fully and fairly stated in all its bearings and without disguise. Mr. Darwin has, in fact, "crowned the edifice," and the long looked for and anxiously awaited detailed statement of his views as to the human race is now unreservedly put before us. We rise from the careful perusal of this book with mingled feelings of admiration and disappointment. The author's style is clear and attractive-clearer than in his earlier works and his desire to avoid every kind of conscious misrepresentation is as conspicuous as ever. The number of interesting facts brought forward is as surprising as is the ingenuity often displayed in his manipulation of them. Under these circumstances it is a most painful task to have to point out grave defects and serious shortcomings. Mr. Darwin, however, seems in his recent work even more than in his earlier productions to challenge criticism, and to have thrown out ideas and suggestions with a distinct view to their subsequent modification by others. It is but an act of fairness to call attention to this: • The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. By Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 2 vols. London, 1871. We cannot agree, because we feel that a false theory which keenly solicits the imand deservedly esteemed, and which reagination, put forward by a writer widely verify, skilfully interwoven, and exceedposes on a multitude of facts difficult to ingly hard to unravel, is likely to be very prejudicial to science. Nevertheless, science cannot make progress without the action of two distinct classes of thinkers: the first consisting of men of creative genius, who strike out brilliant hypotheses, and who may be spoken of as "theorizers " in the good sense of the word; the second, of men possessed of the critical faculty, and who test, mould into shape, perfect or destroy, the hypotheses thrown out by the former class. should be such theorizers, it is also most Obviously important as it is that there point out when a theory is really proved, important that criticism should clearly when it is but probable, and when it is a mere arbitrary hypothesis. This is all the more necessary if, as may often and very easily happen, from being repeatedly spoken of, and being connected with celebrated and influential names, it is likely to be taken for very much more than it is really worth. The necessity of caution in respect to this is clearly shown by Mr. Darwin's from being again and again referred to as present work, in which "sexual selection," if it had been proved to be a vera causa, uninstructed or careless reader. For many may readily be accepted as such by the persons, at first violently opposed through ignorance or prejudice to Mr. Darwin's views, are now, with scarcely less ignorance and prejudice, as strongly inclined in their favour. Mr. Darwin's recent work, supplement- been formed by numerous, successive, ing and completing, as it does, his earlier slight modifications, my theory would abpublications, offers a good opportunity for solutely break down. But I can find out reviewing his whole position. We shall no such case” (p. 208). He adds: thus be better able to estimate the value 66 Every detail of structure in every living of his convictions regarding the special creature (making some little allowance for the subject of his present inquiry. We shall direct action of physical conditions) may be first call attention to his earlier statements, viewed, either as having been of special use to in order that we may see whether he has some ancestral form, or as being now of special modified his views, and, if so, how far and use to the descendants of this form- either diwith what results. If he has, even by his rectly, or indirectly through the complex laws own showing and admission, been over- of growth;" and "if it could be proved that hasty and seriously mistaken previously, any part of the structure of any one species had we must be the more careful how we com- been formed for the exclusive good of another mit ourselves to his guidance now. We species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not have been produced through natural selection " (p. 220). Darwin's It is almost impossible for Mr. Darwin to have used words by which more thoroughly to stake the whole of his theory on the non-existence or non-action of causes of any moment other than natural selection. For why should such a phenomenon " annihilate his theory"? Because the very essence of his theory, as originally stated, is to recognize only the conservation of minute variations directly beneficial to the creature presenting them, by enabling it to obtain food, escape enemies, and propagate its kind. But once more he says: shall endeavour to show that Mr. convictions have undergone grave modifications, and that the opinions adopted by him now are quite distinct from, and even subversive of, the views he originally put forth. The assignment of the law of "natural selection" to a subordinate position is virtually an abandonment of the Darwinian theory; for the one distinguishing feature of that theory was the all-sufficiency of "natural selection." Not the less, however, ought we to feel grateful to Mr. Darwin for bringing forward that theory, and for forcing on men's minds, by his learning, acuteness, zeal, perseverance, firmness, and candour, a recognition of the "We have seen that species at any one period probability, if not more, of evolution and are not indefinitely variable, and are not linked of the certainty of the action of "natural together by a multitude of intermediate gradaselection." For though the "survival of tions, partly because the process of natural sethe fittest" is a truth which readily pre-lection will always be very slow, and will act, sents itself to any one who considers the at any one time, only on a very few forms; and subject, and though its converse, the de- partly because the very process of natural selec struction of the least fit, was recognized tion almost implies the continual supplanting thousands of years ago, yet to Mr. Darwin, and extinction of preceding and intermediate and (through Mr. Wallace's reticence) to gradations.”—P. 223. Mr. Darwin alone, is due the credit of hav Such are Mr. Darwin's earlier state ing first brought it prominently forwardments. At present we read as follows: and demonstrated its truth in a volume j which will doubtless form a landmark in the domain of zoological science. "I now admit, after reading the essay by Nägeli on plants, and the remarks by various those recently made by Professor Broca, that in authors with respect to animals, more especially the earlier editions of my Origin of Species probably attributed too much to the action of natural selection or the survival of the fittest.” I We find even in the third edition of his Origin of Species" the following passages:"Natural selection can act only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a leap, but I had not formerly sufficiently conmust advance by short and slow steps sidered the existence of many structures which (p. 214). Again he says:- "If it could appear to be, as far as we can judge, neither be demonstrated that any complex organ beneficial nor injurious; and this I believe existed, which could not possibly have to be one of the greatest oversights as yet detected in my work." vol. i. p. 152). ("Descent of Man," | marked" changes, "neither beneficial nor A still more remarkable admission is them, produced "by unknown agencies that in which he says, after referring to the action of both natural and sexual selection: - vol. i. p. 154. But perhaps the most glaring contradiction is presented by the following passage: lying deep in "the nature or constitution of the organism," and which, if acting uniformly, would "probably " modify simIf this is not an abandonment of "natuilarly "all the individuals of a species."; "An unexplained residuum of change, perhaps a large one, must be left to the assumed action of those unknown agencies, which occa-ral selection," it would be difficult to sesionally induce strongly marked and abrupt de-lect terms more calculated to express it. viations of structure in our domestic produc- But Mr. Darwin's admissions of error do tions." not stop here. In the fifth edition of his Origin of Species" (p. 104) he says, "Until reading an able and valuable article in the North British Review' (1867), I did not appreciate how rarely single variations, whether slight or strongly marked, could be perpetuated." Again: he was formerly "inclined to lay much stress on the principle of protection, as accounting for the less bright colours of female birds" ("Descent of Man," vol. ii. p. 198); but now he speaks as if the correctness of his old conception of such colours being due to protection was unlikely. "Is it probable," he asks, "that the head of the female chaffinch, the crimson on the breast of the female bullfinch, — the green of the female chaffinch, — the crest of the female golden-crested wren, have all been rendered less bright by the slow process of selection for the sake of protection? I cannot think so" (vol. ii. p. 176). "No doubt man, as well as every other animal, presents structures, which as far as we can judge with our little knowledge, are not now of any service to him, nor have been so during any former period of his existence, either in relation to his general conditions of life, or of one sex to the other. Such structures cannot be accounted for by any form of selection, or by the inherited effects of the use and disuse of parts. We know, however, that many strange and strongly marked peculiarities of structure occasionally appear in our domesticated productions; and if the unknown causes which produce them were to act more uniformly, they would probably become common to all the individuals of the species."— vol. ii. p. 387. Mr. Darwin, indeed, seems now to admit the existence of internal, innate powers, for he goes on to say: Once more Mr. Darwin shows us (vol. "We may hope hereafter, to understand i. p. 125) how he has been over-hasty in atsomething about the causes of such occasional tributing the development of certain strucmodifications, especially through the study of tures to reversion. He remarks, "In my monstrosities." "In the greater number Variations of Animals under Domesticaof cases we can only say that the cause of each tion' (vol. ii. p. 57) I attributed the not slight variation and of each monstrosity lies much very rare cases of supernumerary mammæ more in the nature or constitution of the organ-in women to reversion." "But Professor ism than in the nature of the surrounding conditions; though new and changed conditions certainly play an important part in exciting organic changes of all kinds." Also, in a note (vol. i. p. 223) he speaks of "incidental results of certain unknown Preyer states that mamma erraticæ have been known to occur in other situations, even on the back; so that the force of mỹ argument is greatly weakened or perhaps quite destroyed." Finally, we have a postscript at the bedifferences in the constitution of the re-ginning of the second volume of the “Deproductive system." Thus, then, it is admitted by our author that we may have "abrupt, strongly * The italics in the quotations from Mr. Darwin's book in this article are, in almost all cases, ours, and not the author's. scent of Man" which contains an avowal more remarkable than even the passages already cited. He therein declares :— "I have fallen into a serious and unfortunate error, in relation to the sexual differences of an |