THE PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE. 145 



of organic nature as an enigma, the meaning of which 

 is wholly hidden from us ; you must understand that I 

 mean that I accept it provisionally, in exactly the same 

 way as I accept any other hypothesis. Men of science 

 do not pledge themselves to creeds ; they are bound by 

 articles of no sort ; there is not a single belief that it 

 is not a bounden duty with them to hold with a light 

 hand and to part with it, cheerfully, the moment it is 

 really proved to be contrary to any fact, great or small. 

 And if in course of time I see good reasons for such a 

 proceeding, I shall have no hesitation in coming before 

 you, and pointing out any change in my opinion without 

 finding the slightest occasion to blush for so doing. So 

 I say that we accept this view as we accept any other, 

 so long as it will help us, and we feel bound to retain it 

 only so long as it will serve our great purpose — the 

 improvement of Man's estate and the widening of his 

 knowledge. The moment this, or any other conception, 

 ceases to be useful for these purposes, away with it to 

 the four winds ; we care not what becomes of it ! 



But to say truth, although it has been my business 

 to attend closely to the controversies roused by the 

 publication of Mr. Darwin's book, I think that not one 

 of the enormous mass of objections and obstacles which 

 have been raised is of any great value, except that 

 sterility case which I brought before you just now. 

 All the rest are misunderstandings of some sort, arising 

 either from prejudice, or want of knowledge, or still 

 more from want of patience and care in reading the 

 work. 



For you must recollect that it is not a book to be 

 read with as much ease as its pleasant style may lead 

 you to imagine. You spin through it as if it were a 



