PDF - Wallace Online

VIICREATION BY LAW 1AMONG the various criticisms that have appeared on Mr.Darwin's celebrated Origin of Species, there is, perhaps,none that will appeal to so large a number of well educatedand intelligent persons as that contained in the Duke ofArgyll's Reign of Law. The noble author represents the feelingsand expresses the ideas of that large class of persons whotake a keen interest in the progress of science in general,and especially that of Natural History, but have never themselvesstudied nature in detail, or acquired that personalknowledge of the structure of closely allied forms, thewonderful gradations from species to species and from groupto group, and the infinite variety of the phenomena of " variation" in organic beings, which is absolutely necessary fora full appreciation of the facts and reasonings contained inMr. Darwin's great work.Nearly half of the Duke's book is devoted to an expositionof his idea of" Creation by Law," and he expresses so clearlywhat are his difficulties and objections as regards the theoryof " Natural Selection," that I think it advisable that theyshould be fairly answered, and that his own views should beshown to lead to conclusions .as hard to accept as any whichhe imputes to Mr. Darwin.The point on which the Duke of Argyll lays most stressis, that proofs of Mind everywhere meet us in Nature, andare more especiallymanifest wherever we find " contrivance "or "beauty." He maintains that this indicates the constant1First published in the Quarterly Journal of Science, October 1868 ;reprinted in Contributions, etc., with a few alterations and additions.