VII 



THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY AND THE 

 THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION 



The Huxley Lecture for 1905, delivered before the University of 

 Birmingham, March 23. 

 Hitherto unpublished. 



THE relation of a great man to a great theory which 

 arose in his time is always a deeply interesting subject 

 of contemplation. A great theory, like Gravitation or 

 Natural Selection, is an all-powerful weapon of inquiry 

 strong enough to effect a reclassification of workers 

 inexorable sometimes in making the first last and the last 

 first, according to the prejudice or the sympathy with 

 which the new instrument is received. A theory of the 

 highest rank compels attention and can be no more 

 passed by with indifference than the discovery of iron 

 or of gunpowder. 



The attitude of Huxley towards Natural Selection was, 

 I shall endeavour to show, remarkable and unusual. 

 Although no one strove so nobly and against such odds 

 in its defence from unfair attack, although no one ever 

 fought the battle of science with more complete success, 

 Huxley was at no time a convinced believer in the theory 

 he protected. 



The origin and growth of the theory and the circum- 

 stances under which it was made public have often been 

 told, but no lecture of this kind would be complete with- 

 out a brief recapitulation of the main points. 



Darwin, convinced of evolution by reflection upon his 

 observations in South America, during the voyage of the 

 Beagle (1831-6) began in July, 1837, systematically to 

 collect facts bearing upon the modification of species 



