312 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871. 



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 pro- 

 pounded them, this much is certain, that in a dozen years, the 

 * Origin of Species ' has worked as complete a revolution in 

 Biological Science as the ' Principia ' did in Astronomy;" 

 and it has done so, " because, in the words of Helmholtz, 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 insolence which at 

 first characterised a large proportion of the attacks with which 

 he was assailed, is no longer the sad distinction of anti-Dar- 

 winian criticism." 



A passage in the Introduction to the * Descent of Man * 

 shows that the author recognised clearly this improvement in 

 the position of Evolution. '' When a naturalist like Carl 

 Vogt ventures to say in his address, as President of the Na- 

 tional Institution of Geneva (1869), 'personne, en Europe au 

 moins, n'ose plus soutenir la creation independante et de 

 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, unfortu- 

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



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

 iniscence 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 gen- 



* 'Contemporary Review,' 1871. 



f It must have been at the end of February, within a week after the 

 publication of the book. 



