8 



SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. 



[I86 3 . 



not seen the Athenceum* but I have sent for it, and may get 

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



I have read Lyell'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 chapters 

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

 judge about Man, as all the gloss of 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 

 personally) to find that his timidity prevents him giving 

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

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

 the immutability of species ; and yet one of his strongest 

 sentences is nearly as follows : " If it should ever f be 

 rendered 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 

 appreciate your work. No doubt the public or a part may be 

 induced to think that, as he gives to us a larger space than 

 to Lamarck, he must think there is something in our views. 

 When reading the brain chapter, it struck me forcibly that if 



* In the 'Antiquity of Man,' 

 first edition, p. 480, Lyell criticised 

 somewhat severely Owen's account 

 of the difference between the Hu- 

 man and Simian brains. The num- 

 ber of the AthencEU77i here referred 

 to (1863, p. 262) contains a reply 

 by Professor Owen to Lyell's stric- 

 tures. The surprise expressed by 

 my father was at the revival of a 



controversy which every one be- 

 lieved to be closed. Prof. Huxley 

 {Medical Times, Oct. 25, 1862, 

 quoted in l Man's Place in Nature,' 

 p. 117) spoke of the "two years 

 during which this preposterous con- 

 troversy has dragged its weary 

 length." And this no doubt ex- 

 pressed a very general feeling, 

 f The italics are not Lyell's. 



