n THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 23 



decidedly dangerous book, and even savants, who 

 have no better mud to throw, quote antiquated 

 writers to show that its author is no better than 

 an ape himself ; while every philosophical thinker 

 hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the 

 armoury of liberalism ; and all competent natural- 

 ists and physiologists, whatever their opinions as 

 to the ultimate fate of the doctrines put forth, 

 acknowledge that the work in which they are 

 embodied is a solid contribution to knowledge 

 and inaugurates a new epoch in natural history. 



Nor has the discussion of the subject been 

 restrained within the limits of conversation. 

 When the public is eager and interested, reviewers 

 must minister to its wants ; and the genuine 

 litterateur is too much in the habit of acquiring 

 his knowledge from the book he judges as the 

 Abyssinian is said to provide himself with steaks 

 from the ox which carries him to be withheld 

 from criticism of a profound scientific work by 

 the mere want of the requisite preliminary scien- 

 tific acquirement ; while, on the other hand, the 

 men of science who wish well to the new views, 

 no less than those who dispute their validity, have 

 naturally sought opportunities of expressing their 

 opinions. Hence it is not surprising that almost 

 all the critical journals have noticed Mr. Darwin's 

 work at greater or less length ; and so many dis- 

 quisitions, of every degree of excellence, from the 

 poor product of ignorance, too often stimulated by 

 31 



