ll its historical details, all its elevated truths, all its
devout and sublime poetry, and above all with the delineation of the
character of Christ, the [Greek: idea ton ideon], the ideal of majesty
and loveliness, before which the whole world, believing and unbelieving,
perforce bows down in reverence. And when reason has sufficiently
subdued the imagination to admit all this, then by the same theory we
may account for all the books in all languages in all the libraries in
the world. Thus we should have Darwinism applied in the sphere of
literature. This is the theory which we are told is to sweep away
Christianity and the Church!

Mr. Darwin gives the same unsatisfactory account of the marvellous
"contrivances" in the vegetable world. In one species of Orchids, the
labellum or lower lip is hollowed into a great bucket continually filled
with water, secreted from two horns which stand above it; when the
bucket is sufficiently filled, the water flows out through a pipe or
spout on one side. The bees, which crowd into the flower for sake of the
nectar, jostle each other, so that some fall into the water; and their
wings becoming wet they are unable to fly, and are obliged to crawl
through the spout. In doing this they come in contact with the pollen,
which, adhering to their backs, is carried off to other flowers. This
complicated contrivance by which the female plants are fertilized has,
according to the theory, been brought about by the slow process of
natural selection or survival of the fittest.

Still more wonderful is the arrangement in another species of Orchids.
When the bee begins to gnaw the labellum, he unavoidably touches a
tapering projection, which, when touched, transmits a vibration which
ruptures a membrane, which sets free a spring by which a mass of pollen
is shot, with unerring aim, over the back of the bee, who then departs
on his errand of fertilization.

A very large class of plants are fertilized by means of insects. These
flowers are beautiful, not for the sake of beauty,--for that Mr. Darwin
says would annihilate his theory,--but those which happen to be
beautiful attract insects, and thus become fertilized and perpetuated,
while the plainer ones are neglected and perish. So with regard to
birds. The females are generally plain, because those of bright colors
are so exposed during the period of incubation that they are destroyed
by their enemies. In like manner male birds are usually adorned