124 SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE m 



on the " Origin of Species/' and I found nothing 

 that I wished to modify in the opinions that are 

 there expressed, though the subsequent vast 

 accumulation of evidence in favour of Mr. Dar- 

 win's views would give me much to add. As is 

 the case with all new doctrines, so with that of 

 Evolution, the enthusiasm of advocates has some- 

 times tended to degenerate into fanaticism ; and 

 mere speculation has, at times, threatened to 

 shoot beyond its legitimate bounds. I have 

 occasionally thought it wise to warn the more 

 adventurous spirits among us against these 

 dangers, in sufficiently plain language ; and I 

 have sometimes jestingly said that I expected, 

 if I lived long enough, to be looked on as a 

 reactionary by some of my more ardent friends. 

 But nothing short of midsummer madness can 

 account for the fiction that I am waiting till it is 

 safe to join openly a revolt, hatched by some 

 person or persons unknown, against an intellectual 

 movement with which I am in the most entire 

 and hearty sympathy. It is a great many years 

 since, at the outset of my career, I had to think 

 seriously what life had to offer that was worth 

 having. I came to the conclusion that the chief 

 good, for me, was freedom to learn, think, and say 

 what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on 

 that conviction, and have availed myself of the 

 " rara temporum felicitas ubi sent ire quse velis, et 

 qua3 sentias dicer e licet," which is now enjoyable, 



