The expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.

I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does not seem to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated by long-continued culture.

The age-old and noble thought of 'I will lay down my life to save another,' is nothing more than cowardice.

Great is the power of steady misrepresentation; but the history of science shows that fortunately this power does not long endure.

I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone.

I look at the natural geological record as a history of the world imperfectly kept and written in a changing dialect; of this history we possess the last volume alone, relating only to two or three countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter has been preserved; and of each page, only here and there a few lines.

It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original.