remained in the dilemma--creation or nothing? It was obvious
that, hereafter, the probability would be immensely greater, that
the links of natural causation were hidden from our purblind
eyes, than that natural causation should be incompetent to
produce all the phenomena of nature. The only rational course
for those who had no other object than the attainment of truth,
was to accept "Darwinism" as a working hypothesis, and see what
could be made of it. Either it would prove its capacity to
elucidate the facts of organic life, or it would break down under
the strain. This was surely the dictate of common sense; and,
for once, common sense carried the day. The result has been that
complete volte-face of the whole scientific world, which must
seem so surprising to the present generation. I do not mean to
say that all the leaders of biological science have avowed
themselves Darwinians; but I do not think that there is a single
zoologist, or botanist, or palaeontologist, among the multitude
of active workers of this generation, who is other than an
evolutionist, profoundly influenced by Darwin's views. Whatever
may be the ultimate fate of the particular theory put forth by
Darwin, I venture to affirm that, so far as my knowledge goes,
all the ingenuity and all the learning of hostile critics have
not enabled them to adduce a solitary fact, of which it can be
said, this is irreconcilable with the Darwinian theory. In the
prodigious variety and complexity of organic nature, there are
multitudes of phenomena which are not deducible from any
generalisations we have yet reached. But the same may be said of
every other class of natural objects. I believe that astronomers
cannot yet get the moon's motions into perfect accordance with
the theory of gravitation.