ix] OF EVOLUTION 109 



that the principle of natural selection accounted not 

 only for the adaptation of an organism to its environ- 

 ment, but at the same time explains that divergence, 

 which must have taken place in species in order to 

 give rise to their wonderfully varied characters. 



It was not till long after he came to Down in 

 1842, he tells us in his autobiography, that his mind 

 freed itself from this objection. He says : 



'I can remember the very spot in the road, whilst in my 

 carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me,' 



and he compares the relief to his mind as resembling 

 the effect produced by ' Columbus and his egg 110 .' 

 Some may think the 'solution' of Columbus was 

 itself not a very satisfactory one ; and I am inclined 

 to regard the difficulties of which Darwin records so 

 sudden and dramatic a removal as more imaginary 

 than real ! 



There can be no doubt that, as pointed out by the 

 late Professor Alfred Newton 111 , there was among 

 naturalists during the second quarter of the nine- 

 teenth century a feeling of dissatisfaction with 

 respect to current ideas concerning the origin of 

 species, accompanied in many cases with one of 

 expectation that a solution might soon be found. 

 Others, however, despairingly regarded it as 'the 

 mystery of mysteries' for which it was hopeless to 

 attempt to find a key. There was, however, one 

 man, who simultaneously with Darwin was meditating 



