As a record of a former state of things, I have retained in the foregoing paragraphs, and elsewhere, several sentences which imply that naturalists believe in the separate creation of each species; and I have been much censured for having thus expressed myself.

But undoubtedly this was the general belief when the first edition of the present work appeared.

I formerly spoke to very many naturalists on the subject of evolution, and never once met with any sympathetic agreement.

It is probable that some did then believe in evolution, but they were either silent or expressed themselves so ambiguously that it was not easy to understand their meaning.

Now, things are wholly changed, and almost every naturalist admits the great principle of evolution.