ok which
introduced so good a custom would not be without value, though the value
might lie in the custom, and not in the book itself; whereon, seeing
that I was obstinate, they left me, and interpreting their doing so into
at any rate a modified approbation of my design, I have carried it into
practice.

The edition of the 'Philosophie Zoologique' referred to in the following
volume, is that edited by M. Chas. Martins, Paris, Librairie F. Savy,
24, Rue de Hautefeuille, 1873.

The edition of the 'Origin of Species' is that of 1876, unless another
edition be especially named.

The italics throughout the book are generally mine, except in the
quotations from Miss Seward, where they are all her own.

I am anxious also to take the present opportunity of acknowledging the
obligations I am under to my friend Mr. H. F. Jones, and to other
friends (who will not allow me to mention their names, lest more errors
should be discovered than they or I yet know of), for the invaluable
assistance they have given me while this work was going through the
press. If I am able to let it go before the public with any comfort or
peace of mind, I owe it entirely to the carefulness of their
supervision.

I am also greatly indebted to Mr. Garnett, of the British Museum, for
having called my attention to many works and passages of which otherwise
I should have known nothing.

_March 31, 1879._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Statement of the Question--Current Opinion adverse to
Teleology 1

CHAPTER II.

The Teleology of Paley and the Theologians 12

CHAPTER III.

Impotence of Paley's Conclusion--The Teleology of the
Evolutionist 24

CHAPTER IV.

Failure of the First Evolutionists to see their Position
as Teleological 34

CHAPTER V.

The Teleological Evolution of Organism--The Philosophy
of the Unconscious 43

CHAPTER VI.

Scheme of the Remainder of the Work--Historical Sketch
of the Theory of Evolution 60

CHAPTER VII.

Pre-Buffonian Evolution, and some German Writers 68

CHAPTER VIII.

Buffon--Memoir 74

CHAPTER IX.

Buffon's Method--The Ironical Chara