view. Such facts as we possess, and the Darwinian hypothesis, favor the
latter.

XIII

EVOLUTIONARY TELEOLOGY


When Cuvier spoke of the "combination of organs in such order that they may
be in consistence with the part which the animal has to play in Nature,"
his opponent, Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, rejoined, "I know nothing of animals
which have to play a part in Nature." The discussion was a notable one in
its day. From that time to this, the reaction of morphology against "final
causes" has not rarely gone to the extent of denying the need and the
propriety of assuming ends in the study of animal and vegetable
organizations. Especially in our day, when it became apparent that the
actual use of an organ might not be the fundamental reason of its
existence-- that one and the same organ, morphologically considered, was
modified in different cases to the most diverse uses, while intrinsically
different organs subserved identical functions, and consequently that use
was a fallacious and homology the surer guide to correct classification--it
was not surprising that teleological ideas nearly disappeared from natural
history. Probably it is still generally thought that the school of Cuvier
and that of St.-Hilaire have neither common ground nor capability of
reconcilement.

In a review of Darwin's volume on the "Fertilization of Orchids" * (too
technical and too detailed for reproduction here), and later in a brief
sketch of the character of his scientific work (art. IX, p. 234), we
expressed our sense of the great gain to science from his having brought