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.)