n I see
how poor an argument this is. The safest conclusion seems to me that
the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect; but man can do
his duty." To questions put by a German student in 1879, he replied:
"Science has nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of
scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For
myself I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation. As for
a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting
vague probabilities." In the same year he told another correspondent:
"In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the
sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally (and
more and more as I grow older), but not always, that an Agnostic would
be the more correct description of my state of mind." His latest view is
indicated in a letter dated July 3, 1881. Here he expressed the "inward
conviction that the universe is not the result of chance." He adds,
however: "But, then, with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the
convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the
lower animals, are of any value, or at all trustworthy. Would any one
trust the convictions in a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions
in such a mind?" The Duke of Argyll has recorded the few words on the
subject spoken by Darwin in the last year of his life. The Duke said
that it was impossible to look at the wonderful contrivances for
certain purposes in nature, and fail to recognize that they were the
effect and the expression of mind. Darwin looked at the Duke very hard,
and said, "Well, that often comes over me with overwhelming force; but
at other times"--here he shook his head vaguely--"it seems to go away."

III.

We pass to a consideration of Darwin's masterworks, the "Origin of
Species," the "Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," and
the "Descent of Man." Before indicating the conclusions reached in the
first of these works, we should point out to what extent Darwin had been
preceded by dissenters from the belief once almost universally
entertained by biologists that species were independently created, and,
once created, were immutable. Lamarck was the first naturalist whose
divergent views upon the subject excited much attention. In writings
published at various dates from 1801 to 1815, he upheld the doctrine
that all species, including man, are descended from other s