A distinguished zoologist, Mr. St. George Mivart, has recently collected
all the objections which have ever been advanced by myself and others
against the theory of natural selection, as propounded by Mr. Wallace and
myself, and has illustrated them with admirable art and force. When thus
marshalled, they make a formidable array; and as it forms no part of Mr.
Mivart's plan to give the various facts and considerations opposed to his
conclusions, no slight effort of reason and memory is left to the reader,
who may wish to weigh the evidence on both sides. When discussing special
cases, Mr. Mivart passes over the effects of the increased use and disuse
of parts, which I have always maintained to be highly important, and have
treated in my "Variation under Domestication" at greater length than, as I
believe, any other writer. He likewise often assumes that I attribute
nothing to variation, independently of natural selection, whereas in the
work just referred to I have collected a greater number of well-established
cases than can be found in any other work known to me. My judgment may not
be trustworthy, but after reading with care Mr. Mivart's book, and
comparing each section with what I have said on the same head, I never
before felt so strongly convinced of the general truth of the conclusions
here arrived at, subject, of course, in so intricate a subject, to much
partial error.
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