47 i
general concensus of the opinion of experts must have
had great influence over the world at large. The appeal
to such authority could not be in vain. Even in quite
recent times, a similar plea has been put forth. Dr. Bree
says :—
“ Now these are the deliberately expressed opinions of men who
have devoted their lives to the study of these questions. No one
will, I think, be bold enough to say the conclusions arrived at by
such men as Owen or Agassiz are to be treated with indifference.”—
(,Species not Transmutable, pp. 44-5.)
In the next place, there was, doubtless, a sentimental
feeling, which would induce people to accept the dogma
which had so much authority on its side. Nature is dear
to us because of its unchangeableness. This feeling is
beautifully expressed by George Eliot in the following
passages :—
“We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no
childhood in it ; if it were not the earth where the same flowers
come up again every spring, that we used to gather with our tiny
fingers as we sat lisping to ourselves on the grass—the same hips
and haws on the autumn hedgerows—the same red-breasts that we
used to call God’s birds, because they did no harm to the precious
crops. What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where every
thing is known, and loved because it is known?”—{The Mill on
the Floss, p. jj.)
“ Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the
once familiar herbs again ; and as the leaves with their unchanged
outline and markings lay on his palm, there was a sense of crowding
remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in
Eppie’s little world that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit.”—{Silas
Marner, p. ///.)
Richard Jefferies gives utterance to the same sentiment.
“ I do not want change ; I want the same old and loved things,
the same wild flowers, the same trees and soft ash green ; the turtle
doves, the blackbirds, the coloured yellow-hammer, sing, sing, singing
so long as there is light to cast a shadow on the dial, for such is the
measure of his song; and 1 want them in the same place.”—{The
Gentleman's Magasine, vol. cclxxiii., p. Qi.)