CHAKLES DARWIN. 87 



he had his choice of an ancestor, whether it should be an ape, or 

 one who. having received a scholastic education, used his logic to 

 mislead an untutored public, he should not for one moment hesi- 

 tate to choose the ape ! The crowded audience, which began by 

 loudly cheering the onslaught on Darwin, ended by cheering 

 Huxley to the echo. 



For long the storm raged in pulpit and in press. One of our 

 great poUtical leaders declared himself " against Mr. Darwin and 

 on the side of the angels " ! Even the Royal Society waited until 

 1864 before it bestowed on nim the Copley Medal. In two 

 months a second edition of his book was called for and issued. 

 Gradually the storm abated, Darwin all the time bearing himself 

 nobly, quietly, generously, courteously, alike to friends and foes. 

 Very soon the leading scientists one by one enrolled themselves on 

 his side. Hooker, Lyell, Spencer, Huxley, Henslow, Asa Gray, 

 Fiske, the ]\Iuller brothers, and others, all avowed themselves evo- 

 lutionists and " Darwinians." Later on Tyndall and Allen 

 Thomson joined the array. In due time a younger regiment of 

 workers, who for years had sat at the feet of the great master in 

 science, declared themselves his disciples and accepted his theory. 

 Balfour, Romanes, Lubbock, Ray Lankester, Thistleton Dyer, 

 Andrew Wilson, Grant Allen, are among the most popular expo- 

 nents of his grand discovery. In 1880, when in all quarters of the 

 globe Geology and Palaeontology, Zoology and Botany, were yield- 

 ing unassailable evidence of the truth of the evolutionary doctrine, 

 Huxley delivered that masterpiece of eloquence at the Royal 

 Institution on the Coming of Age of the ' Origiji of Species,^ 

 and was able to say, " Evolution is no longer a speculation, but a 

 statement of historical fact." So, after 21 years of storms and 

 calms, of opprobrium and approval, the great crowning victory 

 came to the earnest, patient worker, and Charles Darwin took his 

 only proper place amongst his peers — king over them all. 



To the last he set an example of a noble and beautiful life, 

 which had, as Dr. Carpenter, so lately gone from us, finely said, 

 " no ' other side.' " He had, as Huxley tells us, " an intellect 

 which had no superior, and a character which was even nobler 

 than the intellect." Grant Allen writes : — "His conspicuous and 

 beautiful love of truth, his unflinching candour, his transparent 



