* The facts on which I am about to dwell are in nowise antagonistic to
the theories which Mr. Darwin's unwearied and unerring investigations are
every day rendering more probable. The aesthetic relations of species are
independent of their origin. Nevertheless, it has always seemed to me
in what little work I have done upon organic forms, as if the species
mocked us by their deliberate imitation of each other when they met; yet
did not pass one into another.
63. And the force of these facts cannot be escaped from by the thought
that there are species innumerable, passing into each other by regular
gradations, out of which we choose what we must love or dread, and say
they were indeed prepared for us. Species are not innumerable; neither
are they now connected by consistent gradation. They touch at certain
points only; and even then are connected, when we examine them deeply,
in a kind of reticulated way, not in chains, but in chequers; also,
however connected, it is but by a touch of the extremities, as it were,
and the characteristic form of the species is entirely individual.
Pages:
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100