CHAPTEE XXV 



THE MAKING OF- THE ' ORIGIN ' I SCIENCE AND 

 FRIENDSHIP 



MODERN Science dates from before or after the * Origin of 

 Species/ The publication of the book was, so to say, the 

 Hegira of Science. By it the science of living things was 

 revolutionised and every other branch of natural science was 

 stirred. After the vested interests of current opinion rose 

 up in a great turmoil, Philosophy took a new element into 

 her reckoning. The Natural Sciences claimed their rights as 

 knowledge, discipline, and power. 



But the making of the ' Origin ' is not only a history of 

 science it is the history of a great friendship. In its fabric 

 the two strands are indissolubly interwoven. As Darwin ex- 

 claimed to his friend, ' Talk of fame, honour, pleasure, wealth 

 all are dirt compared with affection, and this is a doctrine 

 [in] which I know from your letter that you will agree from the 

 bottom of your heart/ so the achievement is ennobled by the 

 warm human affection that so long sustained the worker and 

 aided the work. For twenty years the materials for the task 

 were being amassed ; for fifteen of these years Hooker was 

 Darwin's confidant and helper. Without Hooker's aid Darwin's 

 great work would hardly have been carried out on the botanical 

 side.' 1 In his quiet isolation at Down, cut off from the ordin- 

 ary converse of the world by the perpetual uncertainties of ill- 

 health, Darwin found refreshment and delight in pouring out 

 to his friend his schemes of research and his wonderful experi- 



1 Sir F. Darwin and Professor Seward, in M.L. i. p. 39. 

 486 



