ven completely lost by disuse. . . .

"The only other important work dealing with the question was the
celebrated Vestiges of Creation, published anonymously, but now
acknowledged to have been written by the late Robert Chambers."

None are so blind as those who will not see, and it would be waste
of time to argue with the invincible ignorance of one who thinks
Lamarck and Buffon conceived that all species were produced from one
another, more especially as I have already dealt at some length with
the early evolutionists in my work Evolution, Old and New, first
published ten years ago, and not, so far as I am aware, detected in
serious error or omission. If, however, Mr. Wallace still thinks it
safe to presume so far on the ignorance of his readers as to say
that the only two important works on evolution before Mr. Darwin's
were Lamarck's Philosophie Zoologique and the Vestiges of Creation,
how fathomable is the ignorance of the average reviewer likely to
have been thirty years ago, when the Origin of Species was first
published? Mr. Darwin claimed evolution as his own theory. Of
course, he would not claim it if he had no right to it. Then by all
means give him the credit of it. This was the most natural view to
take, and it was generally taken. It was not, moreover, surprising
that people failed to appreciate all the niceties of Mr. Darwin's
"distinctive feature" which, whether distinctive or no, was
assuredly not distinct, and was never frankly contrasted with the
older view, as it would have been by one who wished it to be
understood and judged upon its merits. It was in consequence of
this omission that people failed to note how fast and loose Mr.
Darwin played with his distinctive feature, and how readily he
dropped it on occasion.

It may be said that the question of what was thought by the
predecessors of Mr. Darwin is, after all, personal, and of no
interest to the general public, comparable to that of the main
issue--whether we are to accept evolution or not. Granted that Buff
on, Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck bore the burden and heat of the day
before Mr. Charles Darwin was born, they did not bring people round
to their opinion, whereas Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace did, and the
public cannot be expected to look beyond this broad and indisputable
fact.

The answer to this is, that the theory which Messrs. Darwin and
Wallace have persuaded the public to accept is demonstrably false,
and that the opponen