94 NINETEENTH REPORT. 



network" theory of filie de Beaumont furnished the age of every range 

 of mountains from the direction of its trend referred to the cardinal 

 points ; while the cataclysmic theory of Cuvier held that the earth's 

 history had been punctuated by great cataclysms resulting in the destruc- 

 tion of all life upon the globe and followed always by a recreation of new 

 faunas and floras. These doctrines, like those. emanating from Germany, 

 were destined to succumb to the rigid tests of the observational methods. 



The control of scientific theory by the Church whenever it felt that 

 its doctrines liad been invaded Mas, if less formal and direct, none the 

 less potent even as late as the latter half of the nineteenth century. 

 This became apparent so soon as attacks began to be made upon the 

 theory of catastrophism, for this theory was regarded as harmonizing 

 with the biblical account of the creation. The evidence for the over- 

 throw of this doctrine had been long collecting by a group of giants in 

 science which developed in England toward the middle of the nineteenth 

 century and which included Darwin and Huxley, Wallace, Lyell and 

 Hooker. In the field of geology Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism Avas 

 the counterpart of evolution in the organic world. 



The battle was joined in 18.59 with the appearance of the "Origin of 

 Species," and it was fortunate for the scientific world that the crisis 

 brought to the front a Huxley who could face "such a storm of wrath and 

 flood of contumely as might have overwhelmed a less resolute and clear- 

 headed champion." Gifted with a clairity of thought and expression and 

 a vigor of utterance which are without a parallel in the whole field of 

 science, Huxley had an utter contempt for dishonesty in thinking and 

 little patience with mere meta-physical abstractions. To his friend 

 Kingsley in one of the most remarkable of all his writings he says : 



I have champed up all that chaff about the ejio and the non-ego, about noumenn 

 and ijhenomena, and all the rest of it, too often not to know that in attempting 

 even to think of these questions the human intellect flounders at once out of its 

 depth. 



He correctly gauged the nature of the struggle which Avas coming and 

 to Darwin he wrote on the appearance of the "Origin of Species" : 



I trust you will not allow yourself to ije in any way disgusted or annoyed by 

 the considerable abuse and misrepresentation which, unless I greatly mistake, is 

 in store for you. Depend upon it, you have earned the lasting gratitude of all 

 thoughtful men. And as to the curs which will bark and yelp, you must recollect 

 that some of your friends, at any rate, are endowed with an amount of com- 

 bativeness which (though you have often and justly rebuked it) may stand you 

 in good stead. I am sharpening uj) my claws and beak in readiness. 



It was not long before the stage was set for one of the most dramatic 

 moments in the history of science, for the British Association for tlie 



