Isolated difficulties
and objections are nothing against this vast cumulative argument. The
human mind cannot go on for ever accumulating facts which remain
unconnected and without any mutual bearing and bound together by no law.
The evidence for the production of the organic world by the simple laws
of inheritance is exactly of the same nature as that for the production
of the present surface of the earth--hills and valleys, plains, rocks,
strata, volcanoes, and all their fossil remains--by the slow and natural
action of natural causes now in operation. The mind that will ultimately
reject Darwin must (to be consistent) reject Lyell also. The same
arguments of apparent stability which are thought to disprove that
organic species can change will also disprove any change in the
inorganic world, and you must believe with your forefathers that each
hill and each river, each inland lake and continent, were created as
they stand, with their various strata and their various fossils--all
appearances and arguments to the contrary notwithstanding. I can only
recommend you to read again Darwin's account of the horse family and its
comparison with pigeons; and if that does not convince and stagger you,
then you are unconvertible.
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