Opponents of Darwin 



obtained acceptance. We venture to say that 

 statements such as these are misleading. We 

 think we may safely assert that scarcely ever has 

 a theory which fundamentally changed the pre- 

 vailing scientific beliefs met with less opposition. 

 It would have been a good thing for zoology had 

 Darwin not obtained so easy a victory. 



Sir Richard Owen, a distinguished anatomist, 

 certainly attacked the doctrine in no unmeasured 

 terms, but his attack was anonymous and so 

 cannot be considered very formidable. Far more 

 important was the opposition of Dr St George 

 Mivart, whose worth as a biologist has never 

 been properly appreciated. His most important 

 work, entitled the Genesis of Species, might be 

 read with profit even now by many of our modern 

 Darwinians. 



For some time after the publication of the 

 Origin of Species Mivart appears to be almost 

 the only man of science fully alive to the weak 

 points of the Darwinian theory. The great 

 majority seem to have been dazzled by its 

 brilliancy. 



The main attack on Darwinism was conducted 

 by the theologians and their allies, who considered 

 it to be subversive of the Mosaic account of the 

 Creation. Now, when one whose scientific know- 

 ledge is, to say the best of it, not extensive, attacks 

 a man who has studied his subject dispassionately 

 for years, and invariably expresses himself with 



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