268 THE SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [ch. xiv. 



important from the biographical point of view to be alto- 

 gether omitted. Of this sort is the history of Lyell's con- 

 version to Evolution. It led to no flaw in the friendship of 

 the two men principally concerned, but it shook and irritated 

 a number of smaller people. Lyell was like the Mississippi in 

 flood, and as he changed his course, the dwellers on the 

 banks were angered and frightened by the general upsetting 

 of landmarks. 



C. D. to J. D. Hooker. Down, Feb. 24 [1863]. 



My dear Hooker, I am astonished at your note. I 

 have not seen the Athencsum,* but I have sent for it, and 

 may get it to-morrow ; and will then say what I think. 



I have read Ly ell's book. [ The Antiquity of Man.] The 

 whole certainly struck me as a compilation, but of the highest 

 class, for when possible the facts have been verified on the 

 spot, making it almost an original work. The Glacial chap- 

 ters seem to me best, and in parts magnificent. I could 

 hardly judge about Man, as all the gloss and novelty was 

 completely worn off. But certainly the aggregation of the 

 evidence produced a very striking effect on my mind. The 

 chapter comparing language and changes of species, seems 

 most ingenious and interesting. He has shown great skill 

 in picking out salient points in the argument for change of 

 species ; but I am deeply disappointed (I do not mean per- 

 sonally) to find that his timidity prevents him from giving 

 any judgment. . . . From all my communications with him, 

 I must ever think that he has really entirely lost faith f in 

 the immutability of species ; and yet one of his strongest 

 sentences is nearly as follows : " If it should ever I be ren- 

 dered highly probable that species change by variation and 

 natural selection," &c. &c. I had hoped he would have 

 guided the public as far as his own belief went. . . . One 

 thing does please me on this subject, that he seems to appre- 



* In the Antiquity of Man, first edition, p. 480, Lyell criticised somewhat 

 severely Owen's account of the difference between the Human and Simian 

 brains. The number of the Athenceum here referred to (1863, p. 262) contains 

 a reply by Professor Owen to Lyell's strictures. The surprise expressed by 

 my father was at the revival of a controversy which every one believed to be 

 closed. Professor Huxley (Medical Times, Oct. 25th, 1862, quoted in Marts 

 Place in Nature, p. 117) spoke of the " two years during which this preposter- 

 ous controversy has dragged its weary length." And this no doubt expressed 

 a very general feeling. 



t This should obviously run, "that at one time he entirely had faith." 



X The italics are not Lyell's. 



