178 DARWINIANISM. 



densation immense, too great perhaps for the uninitiated ; " 

 and he suggests that, when a new edition is called for, an 

 actual case be inserted here and there " to relieve the 

 vast number of abstract propositions." Hooker has " not 

 yet attempted to read " the book, but " on the strength of 

 two or three plunges," declares it " glorious." Nor after 

 actual (so far) reading does he speak otherwise ; but then 

 also we have such expressions as these : " I have not yet 

 got half through the book, not from want of will, but of 

 time for it is the very hardest book to read, to full pro- 

 fits, that I ever tried it is so cram-full of matter and 

 reasoning the three volumes, unprefaced by this, would 

 have choked any naturalist of the nineteenth century, 

 and certainly have softened my brain in the operation of 

 assimilating their contents. It is extremely clear as far 

 as I have gone, but very hard to fully appreciate." 

 Charles Kingsley has to say, " I fear I cannot read your 

 book just now as I ought : all I have seen of it awes me ; 

 both with the heap of facts and the prestige of your 

 name." " Poor dear Hooker is tired to death of my 

 book," says Mr. Darwin himself (ii. 301); nor does his 

 own experience on re-reading it seem to have been 

 different. Once he declares, " it is tough reading, and t 

 wish it were done ; " while on another occasion he moans 

 out, "it is intolerably dull " (iii. 31 and 65). He even 

 cries (ii. 311 ), " No doubt the public has been shame- 

 fully imposed on ! for they bought the book thinking that 

 it would be nice easy reading." 



I think any one who impartially considers these 

 quotations will without hesitation admit that I have 

 rather extenuated than exaggerated the sort of heaviness 

 with which the book meets at least some readers. 

 How very different is the Journal ! 



"There are," says Schelling ( W W. x. 100), "certain 

 moral and other qualities, which a man has, only when 



