366 LIFE OF PROFESSOR ITTJXLEY CHAP. 



the "sin of faith," as he called it; that form of 

 credence which does not fulfil the duty of making 

 a right use of reason ; which prostitutes reason by 

 giving assent to propositions which are neither self- 

 evident nor adequately proved. 



This principle has always been far from finding 

 universal acceptance. One of his theological op- 

 ponents went so far as to affirm that a doctrine may 

 be not only held, but dogmatically insisted on, by a 

 teacher who is, all the time, fully aware that science 

 may ultimately prove it to be quite untenable. 



His own course went to the opposite extreme. In 

 teaching, where it was possible to let the facts speak 

 for themselves, he did not further urge their bearing 

 upon wider problems. He preferred to warn beginners 

 against drawing superficial inferences in favour of his 

 own general theories, from facts the real meaning of 

 which was not immediately apparent. Father Hahn 

 (S.J.), who studied under him in 1876, writes : — 



One day when I was talking to him, our conversation 

 turned upon evolution. " There is one thing about you 

 I cannot understand," I said, " and I should like a word 

 in explanation. For several months now I have been 

 attending your course, and I have never heard you mention 

 evolution, while in your public lectiu"es everywhere yon 

 openly proclaim yourself an evolutionist." ^ 



Now it would be impossible to imagine a better oppor- 

 tunity for insisting on evolution than his lectures on 

 comparative anatomy, when animals are set side by side 

 in respect of the gradual development of functions. But 



^ Bevue des Questions ScierUifigues (Brussels), for October 1895. 



