174 



SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



years I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and 

 drew up some short notes. These I enlarged, in 1844, 

 into a sketch of the conclusions which then seemed to me 

 probable. From that period to the present day I have 

 steadily pursued the same object. I hope that I may be 

 excused for entering on these personal details, as I give 

 them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a 

 conclusion." 



Let me speak of certain traits of this work, the 

 " Origin of Species," which give it a position al- 

 most alone among books of science. There is in it 

 no statement of fact of any importance which, dur- 

 ing the twenty-five years since it was first published, 

 has been shown to be false. In its theoretical part 

 there is no argument which has been shown to be 

 unfair or fallacious. In these twenty-five years no 

 serious objection has been raised to any important 

 conclusion of his which was not at the time fully 

 anticipated and frankly met by him. Indeed, there 

 are but few of these objections which with our 

 present knowledge are not much less weighty than 

 Darwin then admitted. The progress of science 

 has bridged over many chasms in the evidence. 



There is in this work nowhere a suggestion of 

 special pleading or of over-statement. The writer 

 is a judge and not an advocate, and from his deci- 

 sions there has been no successful appeal. There 

 is in this or any other of Darwin's works scarcely 

 a line of controversial writing. He has been the 

 faithful mirror of Nature. The relations of Nature 

 to metaphysics he has left to others. The tor- 

 nadoes which have blown about the " Origin of 

 Species " have left him undisturbed. The word 



