NATURAL SELECTION CRITICISED. 263 



(3.) Haunted by the idea of modification, and arrested 

 by that of adaptation, Mr. Darwin now sets himself, in 

 every way he can think of, to seek for evidence on what 



however, admire in excelsis the chivalrous candour that tells of 

 Sir Wyville Thomson. This naturalist " wrote, in the Introduction 

 to the Voyage of the Challenger: 'The character of the abyssal 

 fauna refuses to give the least support to the theory which refers 

 the evolution of species to extreme variation guided only by natural 

 selection.'" Whereupon Mr. Darwin writes (November 11, 1880) a 

 letter to Nature. This letter, says Mr. Francis, "is, I believe, 

 the only instance in which he wrote publicly with anything like 

 severity." "My father," he continues, "after characterising these 

 remarks as 'a standard of criticism, not uncommonly reached by 

 theologians and metaphysicians,' goes on to take exception to the 

 term extreme variation, and challenges Sir Wyville to name any one 

 who has ' said that the evolution of species depends only on natural 

 selection.' The letter closes with an imaginary scene between Sir 

 Wyville and a breeder," who is supposed to make use of " emphatic 

 but irreverent language about naturalists." " The letter, as 

 originally written, ended with a quotation from Sedgwick on the 

 invulnerability of those who write on what they do not under- 

 stand." Mr. Darwin must have been "riled" indeed to have 

 permitted himself to give way to such an expression in regard of a 

 man as eminent as himself, and the head of an expedition which was 

 privileged to have been under much more distinguished auspices 

 than even those of the Beagle. The expression was omitted, 

 however, and "on the advice of a friend, curiously enough, whose 

 combativeness in the good cause Mr. Darwin had occasionally 

 curbed ! " 



Perhaps, however, the most glaring instance of the fairness 

 of Mr. F. Darwin to adversaria is the even gratuitous note (ii. 260) 

 which concerns the Saturday Review on the Origin. The reviewer 

 is quoted to say that, " if a million of centuries, more or less, is 

 needed for any part of his argument, he feels no scruple in taking 

 them to suit his purpose ; " and the instance in view relates to the 

 denudation of the Weald, which suggested to Mr. Darwin " that a 

 longer period than 300 million years had elapsed since the latter 

 part of the secondary period " (ii. 264). The age of the whole earth, 

 so far as life is concerned, is now generally put down at 20 millions 

 of years I 



