192 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



ing of the rocks is not always without a counterpart in 

 the logical pulverization of the objector. But though in 

 handling this mighty theme all passion has been stilled, 

 there is an emotion of the intellect, incident to the dis- 

 cernment of new truth, which often colors and warms the 

 pages of Mr. Darwin. His success has been great; and 

 this implies not only the solidity of his work, but the pre- 

 paredness of the public mind for such a revelation. On 

 this head, a remark of Agassiz impressed me more than 

 anything else. Sprung from a race of theologians, this 

 celebrated man combated to the last the theory of natural 

 selection. One of the many times I had the pleasure of 

 meeting him in the United States was at Mr. Winthrop's 

 beautiful residence at Brookline, near Boston. Rising 

 from luncheon, we all halted, as if by common consent, 

 in front of a window, and continued there a discussion 

 which had been started at table. The maple was in its 

 autumn glory, and the exquisite beauty of the scene out- 

 side seemed, in my case, to interpenetrate without disturb- 

 ance the intellectual action. Earnestly, almost sadly, Agas- 

 siz turned, and said to the gentlemen standing round, "I 

 confess that I was not prepared to see this theory received 

 as it has been by the best intellects of our time. Its suc- 

 cess is greater than I could have thought possible.' 1 



7 



In our day grand generalizations have been reached. 

 The theory of the origin of species is but one of them. 

 Another, of still wider grasp and more radical signifi- 

 cance, is the doctrine of the Conservation of Energy, the 

 ultimate philosophical issues of which are as yet but 

 dimly seen that doctrine which "binds nature fast in 



