Moreover, he is now satisfied, as we understand, that the same gradation is
traceable not merely in each great division of the Tertiary, but in
particular deposits or successive beds, each answering to a great number of
years; where what have passed unquestioned as members of one species, upon
closer examination of numerous specimens exhibit differences which in his
opinion entitle them to be distinguished into two, three, or more species.
It is plain, therefore, that whatever conclusions can be fairly drawn from
the present animal and vegetable kingdoms in favor of a gradation of
varieties into species, or into what may be regarded as such, the same may
be extended to the Tertiary period. In both cases, what some call species
others call varieties; and in the later Tertiary shells this difference in
judgment affects almost half of the species!
We pass to a second difficulty in the way of Mr. Darwin's theory; to a case
where we are perhaps entitled to demand of him evidence of gradation like
that which connects the present with the Tertiary mollusca. Wide, very wide
is the gap, anatomically and physiologically (we do not speak of the
intellectual) between the highest quadrumana and man; and comparatively
recent, if ever, must the line have bifurcated. But where is there the
slightest evidence of a common progenitor? Perhaps Mr. Darwin would reply by
another question: where are the fossil remains of the men who made the
flint knives and arrowheads of the Somme Valley?
We have a third objection, one, fortunately, which has nothing to do with
geology. We can only state it here in brief terms. The chapter on hybridism
is most ingenious, able, and instructive. If sterility of crosses is a
special original arrangement to prevent the confusion of species by
mingling, as is generally assumed, then, since varieties cross readily and
their offspring is fertile inter se, there is a fundamental distinction
between varieties and species. Mr. Darwin therefore labors to show that it
is not a special endowment, but an incidental acquirement. He does show that
the sterility of crosses is of all degrees; upon which we have only to say,
Natura non facit saltum, here any more than elsewhere. But, upon his theory
he is bound to show how sterility might be acquired, through natural
selection or through something else. And the difficulty is, that, whereas
individuals of the very same blood tend to be sterile, and somewhat remoter
unions diminish this tendency, and when they have diverged into two
varieties the cross-breeds between the two are more fertile than either pure
stock--yet when they have diverged only one degree more the whole tendency
is reversed, and the mongrel is sterile, either absolutely or relatively.
He who explains the genesis of species through purely natural agencies
should assign a natural cause for this remarkable result; and this Mr.
Darwin has not done. Whether original or derived, however, this arrangement
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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