SCIENCE AND THE BISHOPS. 363 



Fourth : 



All the acclamations with which it was received were as the shouts of an 

 ignorant mob (p. 2i9). 



But surely it should be added that the Coryphaeus of this ignorant 

 mob, the fugelman of the shouts, was one of the most accomplished 

 naturalists and geologists now living — the American Dana— who, after 

 years of independent study extending over numerous reefs in the Pa- 

 cific, gave his hearty assent to Darwin's views, and, after all that had 

 been said, deliberately reaffirmed that assent in the year 1885. 



Fifth : 



The overthrow of Darwin's speculation is only beginning to be known. It 

 has been whispered for some time. The cherished dogma has been dropping 

 very slowly out of sight (p. 249). 



Darwin's speculation may be right or wrong, but I submit that that 

 which has not happened can not even begin to be known, except by 

 those who have miraculous gifts to which we poor scientific people do 

 not aspire. The overthrow of Darwin's views may have been whis- 

 pered by those who hoped for it ; and they were perhaps wise in not 

 raising their voices above a whisper. Incorrect statements, if made too 

 loudly, are apt to bring about unpleasant consequences. 



Sixth. Mr. Murray's views, published in 1880, are said to have 

 met with " slow and sulky acquiescence " (p. 252). I have proved 

 that they can not be said to have met with general acquiescence of 

 any sort, whether quick and cheerful, or slow and sulky ; and if this 

 assertion is meant to convey the impression that Mr. Murray's views 

 have been ignored, that there has been a conspiracy of silence against 

 them, it is utterly contrary to notorious fact. 



Professor Geikie's well-known " Text-book of Geology " was pub- 

 lished in 1882, and at pages 457-9 of that work there is a careful 

 exposition of Mr. Murray's views. Moreover, Professor Geikie has 

 specially advocated them on other occasions,* notably in a long article 

 on " The Origin of Coral Reefs," published in two numbers of " Nature " 

 for 1883, and in a presidential address delivered in the same year. If, 

 in so short a time after the publication of his views, Mr. Murray could 

 boast of a convert so distinguished and influential as the Director of 

 the Geological Survey, it seems to me that this wonderful conspiration 

 de silejice (which has about as much real existence as the Duke of 

 Argyll's other bogie, " the Reign of Terror ") must have ipso facto col- 

 lapsed. I wish that, when I was a young man, my endeavors to upset 

 some prevalent errors had met with as speedy and effectual backing. 



Seventh : 



. . . Mr. John Murray was strongly advised against the publication of his 



* Professor Geikie, however, though a strong, is a fair and candid advocate. He says 

 of Darwin's theory, "That it may be possibly true, in some instances, may be readily 

 granted." For Professor Geikie, then, it is not yet overthrown— still less a dream. 



