90 THE COMING [OH. 



also completing the ' first sketch ' of the Principles. 

 But it is evident that as the result of continued study 

 of Lamarck's book, Lyell found it, in spite of its 

 fascination, to embody a theory which he could not 

 but regard as unsound and not calculated to prove a 

 solution of the great mystery of evolution. Accord- 

 ingly when the second volume of the Principles was 

 issued in 1832, it was found to contain in its opening 

 chapters a very trenchant criticism of Lamarck's 

 theory. 



It is only fair to remember, however, that in 

 1863, after Lyell had accepted the theory of Natural 

 Selection he wrote to Darwin : 



'When I came to the conclusion that after all Lamarck was 

 going to be shown to be right, and that we must "go the whole 

 orang " I re-read his book, and remembering when it was written, I 

 felt I had done him injustice 88 .' 



It is interesting also to notice that Darwin, like 

 Lyell, gradually came to entertain a higher opinion 

 of the merit of Lamarck's works, than he did on his 

 first perusal of them. In 1844, Darwin wrote to 

 Hooker, 'Heaven forfend me from Lamarck non- 

 sense ! ' and in the same year he speaks of Lamarck's 

 book as l veritable rubbish,' an 'absurd though 

 clever work 89 .' When, after the publication of the 

 Origin of Species, Lyell referred to the conclusions 

 arrived at in that work as similar to those of 



