1880.] Professor Huxley on ' Tha Origin of Species' 30 1 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, April 9, 1880. 



Geouge Busk, Esq. F.K.S. Treasurer and Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



Professor T. H. Huxley, LL.D. F.K.S. &c. 



The Coming of Age of ' The Origin of Species.' 



[Eeprinted from • Nature,' May 6, 1880.] 



Many of you will be familiar with the aspect of this small green- 

 covered book. It is a copy of the first edition of the ' Origin of 

 Species,' and bears the date of its production — the 1st of October, 

 1859. Only a few months, therefore, are needed to complete the 

 full tale of twenty- one years since its birthday. 



Those whose memories carry them back to this time will 

 remember that the infant was remarkably lively, and that a great 

 number of excellent persons mistook its manifestations of a vigorous 

 individuality for mere naughtiness ; in fact there was a very pretty 

 turmoil about its cradle. My recollections of the period are particu- 

 larly vivid ; for, having conceived a tender affection for a child of 

 what appeared to me to be such remarkable promise, I acted for 

 some time in the capacity of a sort of under-nurse, and thus came 

 in for my share of the storms which threatened the very life of the 

 young creature. For some years it was undoubtedly warm work; 

 but considering how exceedingly unpleasant the apparition of the 

 new-comer must have been to those who did not fall in love with 

 him at first sight, I think it is to the credit of our age that the war 

 was not fiercer, and that the more bitter and unscrupulous forms of 

 opposition died away as soon as they did. 



I speak of this period as of something past and gone, possessing 

 merely an historical, I had almost said an antiquarian interest. For, 

 during the second decade of the existence of the ' Origin of Species,' 

 opposition, though by no means dead, assumed a different aspect. 

 On the part of all those who had any reason to respect themselves, 

 it assumed a thoroughly respectful character. By this time the 

 dullest began to perceive that the child was not likely to perish of 

 any congenital weakness or infantile disorder, but was growing into a 



