The Making of Species 



Never was a man with a theory less dogmatic. 

 Never was the holder of a theory more careful of 

 the expressions he used. Never was a scientific 

 man more ready to give ear to his opponents, to 

 meet them half way, and, where necessary, to 

 compromise. Darwin was not afraid of facts, 

 and was always ready to alter his views when 

 they appeared to be opposed to facts. The 

 average scientific man of to-day makes facts 

 fit his theory ; if they refuse to fit it he ignores 

 or denies them. 



Darwin continually modified his views ; when 

 he found himself in a tight place he did not 

 hesitate to resort to Lamarckian factors, such as 

 the inheritance of the effects of use and disuse 

 and of the effects of environment. He conceded 

 that natural selection was insufficient to account 

 for all the phenomena of organic evolution, and 

 advanced the theory of sexual selection in order 

 to account for facts which the major hypothesis 

 seemed to him incapable of explaining. 



Darwin, moreover, having ample private means, 

 was not obliged to work for a living, and was 

 therefore able to devote the whole of his time to 

 research. The advantages of such a position 

 cannot be over-estimated, and, perhaps, have not 

 been sufficiently taken into account in apportion- 

 ing the praise between Darwin and Wallace for 

 their great discovery. 



To all these factors in Darwin's favour we 



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