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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,