XII. 

 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 



MR. DARWIN S long-standing and well-earned scientific eminence 

 probably renders him indifferent to that social notoriety which 

 passes by the name of success; but if the calm spirit of the 

 philosopher have not yet wholly superseded the ambition and 

 the vanity of the carnal man within him, he must be well 

 satisfied with the results of his venture in publishing the 

 &quot; Origin of Species.&quot; Overflowing the narrow bounds of purely 

 scientific circles, the &quot; species question &quot; divides with Italy and 

 the Volunteers the attention of general society. Everybody has 

 read Mr. Darwin s book, or, at least, has given an opinion upon 

 its merits or demerits ; pietists, whether lay or ecclesiastic, decry 

 it with the mild railing which sounds so charitable; bigots 

 denounce it with ignorant invective ; old ladies of both sexes 

 consider it a decidedly dangerous book, and even savants, who 

 have no better 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 naturalists 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. 



