Is it satisfactorily proved that
species may[20] be originated by selection? that none of the phenomena
exhibited by species are inconsistent with the origin of species in this
way? If these questions can be answered in the affirmative, Mr. Darwin's
view steps out of the rank of hypotheses into that of theories; but so
long as the evidence at present adduced falls short of enforcing that
affirmative, so long, to our minds, the new doctrine must be content to
remain among the former,--an extremely valuable, and in the highest
degree probable, doctrine; indeed, the only extant hypothesis which is
worth anything in a scientific point of view; but still a hypothesis,
and not yet a theory of species. After much consideration," he adds,
"and assuredly with no bias against Mr. Darwin's views, it is our clear
conviction that, as the evidence now stands, it is not absolutely proven
that a group of animals, having all the characters exhibited by species
in Nature, has ever been originated by selection, whether artificial or
natural."[21]
Again, in his work on "Man's Place in Nature," he expresses himself much
to the same effect: "A true physical cause is admitted to be such only
on one condition, that it shall account for all the phenomena which come
within the range of its operation. If it is inconsistent with any one
phenomenon it must be rejected; if it fails to explain any one
phenomenon it is so far to be suspected, though it may have a perfect
right to provisional acceptance.
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