588 
ready-made. I have seen it in every stage, from the 
laying of its foundations to its completion. It might 
have been that I had only seen it on Sundays, when 
no one was at work. But surely no one would con 
tend that I was bound not to believe that it was really 
gradually built up, unless I saw men actually engaged in 
the work, and knew the various firms whose men have 
co-operated in producing the structure. On the same 
principle, the world ought to have accepted the argu 
ments for Organic Evolution without demanding, as a 
preliminary condition, that it should know all the factors 
which had co-operated to bring about that result. 
In the next place, it should be observed that, on the 
assumption that this theory is false, it has yet done a 
good work in promoting the ultimate discovery of the 
truth. It may seem a cynical thing to say this, but it is 
no less true on that account. I believe that the argu 
ments for Organic Evolution as a process were quite 
conclusive before the publication of the Origin of Species; 
but I believe that they would never have been accepted 
in their abstract form. It was not enough to show that 
the process had taken place ; it was necessary to show 
how, and by the action of what laws, it had taken place. 
Natural Selection met that demand with a theory which 
everybody could understand, or thought they could under 
stand. And by this means Organic Evolution came to 
be accepted. 
But the temporary acceptance of a false theory is not 
without its drawbacks. If only it could be regarded as a 
tentative hypothesis, all might then be well. It would 
give the observer of nature something to look for, and 
whatever the result to the theory, observation would be 
quickened and enlarged. But too soon, alas! the ten 
tative theory comes to be regarded as a law of nature,