Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/72

44 tice of the treasures they contain;—let us examine their Zoology. Prior to the exertions of Mr. Miller, the old red sandstone was considered a poor field for the palaeontologist: one author in particular has asserted that " the old red sandstone has hitherto been considered as remarkably barren in fossils;"—let us hear Mr. Miller's opinion in reply.

From this we pass on to the Lamarckian hypothesis of progressive development. Mr. Miller's arguments on this subject are full of wit and point, yet, except as affording him an opportunity of exhibiting his powers, they must be considered as rather amusing than instructive, for in this age of enquiry there are no Lamarckians: the hypothesis is a non-entity,—a spirit known only to those by whom it is conjured up for the express purpose of being submitted to a formal exorcism: each author who mentions it is himself its creator: like the Pope or Guy Fawkes of the 5th of November, it is a being of straw invested with imaginary terrors for the purpose of enhancing the pleasure and the merit of its total annihilation. However, Mr. Miller shall speak for himself.

"Mr. Lyell's brilliant and popular work, 'The Principles of Geology,' must have introduced to the knowledge of most of my readers the strange theories of Lamarck. The ingenious foreigner, on the strength of a few striking facts, which prove that, to a certain extent, the instincts of species may be improved and heightened, and their forms changed from a lower to a higher degree of adaptation to their circumstances, has concluded that there is a natural progress from the inferior orders of beings towards the superior; and that the offspring of creatures low in the scale in the present time, may