232 PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, [ch. xit. 



But his friends were preparing to fight for him. Huxley 

 gave, in Macmillarfs Magazine for December, an analysis of 

 the Origin, together with the substance of his Eoyal In- 

 stitution lecture, delivered before the publication of the 

 book. 



Carpenter was preparing an essay for the National Re- 

 view, and negotiating for a notice in the Edinburgh free 

 from any taint of odium tlieologicum. 



C. D. to C. Lyell Down [December 12th, 1859]. 



. . I had very long inverviews with , which per- 

 haps you would like to hear about. ... I infer from several 

 expressions that, at bottom, he goes an immense way with 

 us. . . . 



He said to the effect that my explanation was the best 

 ever published of the manner of formation of species. 

 I said I was very glad to hear it. He took me up short : 

 * ; You must not at all suppose that I agree with you in all 

 respects." I said I thought it no more likely that I should 

 be right in nearly all points, than that I should toss up a 

 penny and get heads twenty times running. I asked him 

 what he thought the weakest part. He said he had no par- 

 ticular objection to any part. He added : 



" If I must criticise, I should say, we do not want to 

 know what Darwin believes and is convinced of, but what 

 he can prove." I agreed most fully and truly that I have 

 probably greatly sinned in this line, and defended my gen- 

 eral line of argument of inventing a theory and seeing how 

 many classes of facts the theory would explain. I added 

 that I would endeavour to modify the " believes " and " con- 

 vinceds." He took me up short : " You will then spoil your 

 book, the charm of it is that it is Darwin himself." He 

 added another objection, that the book was too teres atque 

 rotundus that it explained everything, and that it was im- 

 probable in the highest degree that I should succeed in this. 

 I quite agree with this rather queer objection, and it comes 

 to this that my book must be very bad or very good. . . . 



I have heard, by a roundabout channel, that Herschel 

 says my book " is the law of higgledy-piggledy." What this 

 exactly means I do not know, but it is evidently very con- 

 temptuous. If true this is a great blow and discourage- 

 ment. 



