18 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. I 



advice myself, foi- his own sake. And whoever advised 

 him, in that sense, in my opinion did wisely. 



But the theologians cannot get it out of their heads, 

 that as they have creeds, to which they must stick at all 

 hazards, so have the men of science. There is no more 

 ridiculous delusion. We, at any rate, hold ourselves 

 morally bound to " try all things and hold fast to that 

 which is good " ; and among public benefactors, we reckon 

 him who explodes old error, as next in rank to him who 

 discovers new truth. 



You are at liberty to make any use you please of this 

 letter. 



Two letters on kindred subjects may appropriately 

 follow in this place. Thanking M. Henri Gadeau de 

 Kerville for his "Causeries sur le Transformisme," ho 

 writes (Feb. 1 ) : — ■ 



Dear Sir — Accept my best thanks for your interesting 

 " causeries," which seem to me to give a very clear view 

 of the present state of the evolution doctrine as applied 

 to biology. 



There is a statement on p. 87 "Apres sa mort Lamarck 

 fut completement oublid," which may be true for France 

 but certainly is not so for England. From 1830 onwards 

 for more than forty years Lyell's " Principles of Geology " 

 was one of the most widely read scientific books in this 

 country, and it contains an elaborate criticism of Lamarck's 

 views. Moreover, they were largely debated during the 

 controversies which arose out of the publication of the 

 "Vestiges of Creation" in 1844 or thereabouts. "We are 

 certainly not guilty of any neglect of Lamarck on this 

 side of the Channel. 



If I may make another criticism it is that, to my 

 mind, atheism is, on purely philosophical grounds, un- 

 tenable. That there is no evidence of the existence of 

 such a being as the God of the theologians is true enough ; 



