X. 



MR. DARWIN S CRITICS. 1 



THE gradual lapse of time has now separated us by more 

 than a decade from the date of the publication of the 

 &quot; Origin of Species &quot; and whatever may be thought or 

 said about Mr. Darwin s doctrines, or the manner in 

 which he has propounded them, this much is certain, 

 that, in a dozen years, the &quot; Origin of Species &quot; has 

 worked as complete a revolution in biological science as 

 the &quot;Principia&quot; did in astronomy and it has done so, 

 because, in the words of Helmholtz, it contains &quot;an 

 essentially new creative thought/ 2 



Arid as time has slipped by, a happy change has come 

 over Mr. Darwin s critics. The mixture of ignorance 

 and insolence which, at first, characterized a large pro 

 portion of the attacks with which he was assailed, is no 

 longer the sad distinction of anti-Darwinian criticism. 

 Instead of abusive nonsense, which merely discredited its 

 writers, we read essays, which are, at worst, more or less 



1 1. &quot;Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection.&quot; By A. E. 

 Wallace. 1870. 2. &quot; The Genesis of Species.&quot; By St. George Mivart, F.R.S. 

 Second Edition. 1871. 3. &quot; Darwin s Descent of Man.&quot; Quarterly Review, 

 July 1871. 



2 Helmholtz : &quot; Ueber das Ziel und die Fortschritte der Naturwissenschaft.&quot; 

 Ei offnmiffsrede fur die Natnrforscherversammlung zu Innsbruck. 1860. 



