XII. 

 THE OKIGIN OF SPECIES. 



ME. DARWIN'S long-standing and well-earned scientific 

 eminence probably renders him indifferent to that social 

 notoriety which passes by the name of success ; but if 

 the calm spirit of the philosopher have not yet wholly 

 superseded the ambition and the vanity of the carnal 

 man within him, he must be well satisfied with the 

 results of his venture in publishing the " Origin of 

 Species/' Overflowing the narrow bounds of purely 

 scientific circles, the " species question " divides with 

 Italy and the Volunteers the attention of general society. 

 Everybody has read Mr. Darwin's book, or, at least, has 

 given an opinion upon its merits or demerits; pietists, 

 whether lay or ecclesiastic, decry it with the mild 

 railing which sounds so charitable ; bigots denounce it 

 with ignorant invective; old ladies of both sexes 

 consider it a decidedly dangerous book, and even 

 savans, who have no better mud to throw, quote anti- 

 quated writers to show that its author is no better than 

 an ape himself; while every philosophical thinker 

 hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the armoury of 

 liberalism ; and all competent naturalists and physio- 

 logists, whatever their opinions as to the ultimate fate 

 of the doctrines put forth, acknowledge that the work in 

 which they are embodied is a solid contribution to know- 

 ledge and inaugurates a new epoch in natural history. 



