ch. xiv.] 18611871. 287 



The book was published on February 24, 1871. 2500 

 copies were printed at first, and 5000 more before the end 

 of the vear. Mv father notes that he received for this edi- 

 tion 1470. 



Nothing can give a better idea (in a small compass) of 

 the growth of Evolutionism, and its position at this time, 

 than a quotation from Mr. Huxley * : 



" The gradual lapse of time has now separated us by 

 more than a decade from the date of the publication of the 

 Origin of Species ; and whatever may be thought or said 

 about Mr. Darwin's doctrines, or the manner in which he 

 has propounded them, this much is certain, that in a dozen 

 years the Origin of Species has worked as complete a revo- 

 lution in Biological Science as the Principia did in Astron- 

 omy ; " and it had done so, " because in the words of Helm- 

 holtz, it contains ' an essentially new creative thought.' 

 And, as time has slipped by, a happy change has come over 

 Mr. Darwin's critics. The mixture of ignorance and inso- 

 lence which at first characterised a large proportion of the 

 attacks with which he was assailed, is no longer the sad dis- 

 tinction of anti-Darwinian criticism." 



A passage in the Introduction to the Descent of Man 

 shows that the author recognised clearly this improvement 

 in the position of Evolutionism. " When a naturalist like 

 Carl Vooft ventures to sav in his address, as President of the 

 National Institution of Geneva (1869), ' personne, en Europe 

 au moins, n'ose plus soutenir la creation independante et cle 

 toutes pieces, des especes,' it is manifest that at least a large 

 number of naturalists must admit that species are the modi- 

 fied descendants of other species ; and this especially holds 

 good with the younger and rising naturalists. ... Of the 

 older and honoured chiefs in natural science, many, unfor- 

 tunately, are still opposed to Evolution in every form." 



In Mr. James Hague's pleasantly written article, " A 

 Reminiscence of Mr. Darwin " (Harper's Magazine, October, 

 1884), he describes a visit to my father " early in 1871," 

 shortly after the publication of the Descent of Man. Mr. 

 Hague represents my father as " much impressed by the 

 general assent with which his views had been received," and 

 as remarking that " everybody is talking about it without 

 being shocked." 



Later in the year the reception of the book is described 



* Contemporary Iteview, 1871. 



