The
difficulty is the same as that felt by so many geologists, when Lyell first
insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, and great
valleys excavated, by the agencies which we still see at work. The mind
cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of even a million years;
it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many slight variations,
accumulated during an almost infinite number of generations.
Although I am fully convinced of the truth of the views given in this
volume under the form of an abstract, I by no means expect to convince
experienced naturalists whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts
all viewed, during a long course of years, from a point of view directly
opposite to mine. It is so easy to hide our ignorance under such
expressions as the "plan of creation," "unity of design," etc., and to
think that we give an explanation when we only restate a fact. Any one
whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained
difficulties than to the explanation of a certain number of facts will
certainly reject the theory. A few naturalists, endowed with much
flexibility of mind, and who have already begun to doubt the immutability
of species, may be influenced by this volume; but I look with confidence to
the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both
sides of the question with impartiality.
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