_The Beginnings of Important Organs._
We now come to an objection which has perhaps been more frequently urged
than any other, and which Darwin himself felt to have much weight--the
first beginnings of important organs, such, for example, as wings, eyes,
mammary glands, and numerous other structures. It is urged, that it is
almost impossible to conceive how the first rudiments of these could
have been of any use, and, if not of use they could not have been
preserved and further developed by natural selection.
Now, the first remark to be made on objections of this nature is, that
they are really outside the question of the origin of all existing
species from allied species not very far removed from them, which is all
that Darwin undertook to _prove_ by means of his theory. Organs and
structures such as those above mentioned all date back to a very remote
past, when the world and its inhabitants were both very different from
what they are now. To ask of a new theory that it shall reveal to us
exactly what took place in remote geological epochs, and how it took
place, is unreasonable.
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