DARWIN 



portant monograph on cirripedes or barnacles.^ 



It is necessary to consider at some length the per- 

 sonal character of Darwin as its strength and weakness 

 had much to do with both the scientific and general 

 aspects of his theory of natural selection. And it is 

 peculiarly difficult to keep to a just medium in crit- 

 icism because his followers struck from the beginning 

 so high a note of praise. Darwin's reputation was 

 made into a sort of mythical cult; every weakness of 

 character was transferred to the credit side of the 

 ledger. He was said to be a second Newton, to have 

 done for biology what his predecessor had accom- 

 plished for mechanics; the latter had given us a uni- 

 versal law for the inorganic world and Darwin had 

 completed our knowledge for the living world by his 

 law of natural selection ; the nineteenth century was 

 frequently called the Darwinian age. Except in the 

 rarest of cases, such eulogy brings a revulsion of feel- 

 ing while later, and calmer, judgement finds flaws 

 where there had been proclaimed only perfect work- 

 manship. 



Darwin must have been one of the gentlest and 

 most lovable of men, with a peculiar power of at- 



2 The following is the list of Darwin's important books : The Diary 

 and scientific monographs connected with the voyage of the Beagle; 

 Origin of Species — brief abstract in 1842, an enlarged abstract in 

 1844, an extended treatise begun in 1856 but not finished, the first 

 published edition in 1859; Fertilization of Orchids, 1862; Variation 

 of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 1868 ; Descent of Man, 

 1871; Climbing Plants, Insectivorous Plants, 1875; Influence of 

 Earth Worms, 1881 ; Monograph on Cirripedes, 1846. 



