IV AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY 155 



Darwin's theory of coral-reefs, made no demon- 

 stration in my favour, unless his Grace includes 

 Sir Wyville Thomson, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Bessels, 

 and Professor Haeckel under that head. On the 

 contrary, a sagacious friend of mine, than whom 

 there was no more competent judge, the late Mr. 

 George Busk, was not to be converted ; while, long 

 before the u Challenger " work, Ehrenberg wrote 

 to me very sceptically ; and I fully expected that 

 that eminent man would favour me with pretty 

 sharp criticism. Unfortunately, he died shortly 

 afterwards, and nothing from him, that I know of, 

 appeared. When Sir Wyville Thomson wrote to 

 me a brief account of the results obtained on board 

 the" Challenger" I sent this statement to "Nature," 

 in which journal it appeared the following week, 

 without any further note or comment than was 

 needful to explain the circumstances. In thus 

 allowing judgment to go by default, I am afraid I 

 showed a reckless and ungracious disregard for the 

 feelings of the believers in my infallibility. No 

 doubt I ought to have hedged and fenced and 

 attenuated the effect of Sir Wyville Thomson's 

 brief note in every possible way. Or perhaps I 

 ought to have suppressed the note altogether, on 

 the ground that it was a mere ex partc statement. 

 My excuse is that, notwithstanding a large 

 and abiding faith in human folly, I did not know 

 then, any more than I know now, that there 

 was anybody foolish enough to be unaware that 



