Strictly speaking, there is only one thing and
one action. The universe, or God, and the action of the universe as a
whole.
Lastly, I may predict with some certainty that before long we shall find
the original Darwinism of Dr. Erasmus Darwin (with an infusion of
Professor Hering into the bargain) generally accepted instead of the neo-
Darwinism of to-day, and that the variations whose accumulation results
in species will be recognised as due to the wants and endeavours of the
living forms in which they appear, instead of being ascribed to chance,
or, in other words, to unknown causes, as by Mr. Charles Darwin's system.
We shall have some idyllic young naturalists bringing up Dr. Erasmus
Darwin's note on _Trapa natans_ {221} and Lamarck's kindred passage on
the descent of _Ranunculus hederaceus_ from _Ranunculus aquatilis_ {222a}
as fresh discoveries, and be told with much happy simplicity, that those
animals and plants which have felt the need of such a structure have
developed it, while those which have not wanted it have gone without it.
Thus it will be declared, every leaf we see around us, every structure of
the minutest insect, will bear witness to the truth of the "great guess"
of the greatest of naturalists concerning the memory of living matter.
{222b}
I dare say the public will not object to this, and am very sure that none
of the admirers of Mr.
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