THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 175 



These papers were followed in 1 859 by the publication 

 of the first edition of the ' Origin of Species.' All great 

 things come slowly to the birth. Copernicus, as I in- 

 formed you, pondered his great work for thirty-three 

 years. Newton for nearly twenty years kept the idea 

 of Gravitation before his mind ; for twenty years also 

 he dwelt upon his discovery of Fluxions, and doubtless 

 would have continued to make it the object of his 

 private thought, had he not found Leibnitz upon his 

 track. Darwin for two-and-twenty years pondered the 

 problem of the origin of species, and doubtless he would 

 have continued to do so had he not found Wallace upon 

 his track. 1 A concentrated, but full and powerful, 

 epitome of his labours was the consequence. The book 

 was by no means an easy one ; and probably not one 

 in every score of those who then attacked it, had read 

 its pages through, or were competent to grasp their 

 significance if they had. I do not say this merely to 

 discredit them : for there were in those days some 

 really eminent scientific men, entirely raised above the 

 heat of popular prejudice, and willing to accept any 

 conclusion that science had to offer, provided it was 

 duly backed by fact and argument, who entirely mis- 

 took Mr. Darwin's views. In fact, the work needed an 

 expounder, and it found one in Mr. Huxley. I know 

 nothing more admirable in the way of scientific exposi- 

 tion than those early articles of his on the origin of 

 species. He swept the curve of discussion through the 

 really significant points of the subject, enriched his 

 exposition with profound original remarks and reflec- 

 tions, often summing up in a single pithy sentence an 

 argument which a less compact mind would have 

 spread over pages. But there is one impression made 



1 The behaviour of Mr. Wallace in relation to this subject has 

 been dignified in the highest degree. 



