THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 23 
: 
~ decidedly dangerous book, and_even savants, who 
Beas Getter mud to throw, quote antiquated. 
writers to show that its author is no better than 
an ape himself ; while every philosophical thinker 
hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the 
armoury of liberalism ; and all competent natural- 
ists and physiologists, whatever their opinions as 
to the ultimate fate of the doctrines put forth, 
acknowledge that the work in which they are 
“embodied _is_a solid contribution to knowledge, 
“and. inaugurates. a new epoch in natural history. 
Nor ‘has “the discussion of the subject been 
restrained within the limits of conversation. 
When the public is eager and interested, reviewers 
must ‘minister to its wants; and the genuine 
littératewr is too much in the habit of acquiring 
his knowledge from the book he judges—as the 
Abyssinian is said to provide himself with steaks 
from the ox which carries him—to be withheld 
from criticism of a profound scientific work by 
the mere want of the requisite preliminary scien- 
tific acquirement ; while, on the other hand, the 
men of science who wish well to the new views, 
no less than those who dispute their validity, have 
naturally sought opportunities of expressing their 
opinions. Hence it is not surprising that almost 
all the critical journals have noticed Mr. Darwin’s 
work at greater or less length; and so many dis- 
quisitions, of every degree of excellence, from the 
poor product of ignorance, too often stimulated by 
