e from the Darwinians an answer at once robust and
self-assured. A zoological theory seems suddenly to have thrown light and
intelligibility into the most diverse provinces of knowledge.

But in point of fact it can be shown that Darwinism has not really done
this and cannot do it. It leaves unaffected the problem of the mind with
its peculiar and underivable laws, from the logical to the ethical.
Whether it be right or wrong in its physiological theories, its
genealogical trees and fortuitous factors, preoccupation with this theory
is a task of the second order. Nevertheless it is necessary to study it,
because the chief objections to the religious interpretation of the world
have come from it.

The Development of Darwinism.

In studying it we should like to follow a method somewhat different from
that usually observed in apologetic writings. "Darwinism," even in its
technical, biological form, never was quite, and is to-day not at all a
unified and consistent system. It has been modified in so many ways and
presented in such different colours, that we must either refrain
altogether from attempting to get into close quarters with it, or we must
make ourselves acquainted to some extent with the phases of the theory as
it has gradually developed up to the present day. This is the more
necessary and useful since it is precisely within the circle of technical
experts that revolts from and criticisms of the Darwinian theory have in
recent years arisen; and these are so incisive, so varied, and so
instructive, that through them we can adjust our standpoint in relation to
the theory better than in any other way. And in thus letting the
biologists speak for themselves, we are spared the fatal task of entering
into the discussion of questions belonging to a region outside our own
particular studies.

We cannot, however, give more than a short sketch. But even such a sketch
may do more towards giving us a general knowledge of the question and
showing us a way out of the difficulties it raises than any of the current
"refutations." To supplement this sketch, and facilitate a thorough
understanding of the problem, we shall give somewhat fuller references
than are usual to the relevant literature. And the same method will be
pursued in the following chapter, which deals with the mechanical theory
of life. This method throws more upon the reader, but it is probably the
most satisfactory one for the serious student.

The