MR. DARWIN'S CRITICS 1 



[1871] 



THE gradual lapse of time has now separated us by 

 more than a decade from the date of the publi- 

 cation of the " Origin of Species " and whatever 

 may be thought or said about Mr. Darwin's doc- 

 trines, or the manner in which he has propounded 

 them, this much is certain, that, in a dozen years, 

 the " Origin of Species " has worked as complete a 

 revolution in biological science as the " Principia " 

 did in astronomy and it has done so, because, in 

 the words of Helmholtz, it contains " an essentially 

 new creative thought." 2 



And as time has slipped by, a happy change 



1 1. Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. By 

 A. R. Wallace. 1870. 2. The Genesis of Species. By St. George 

 Mivart, F.R.S. Second Edition. 1871. 3. Darwin's Descent 

 of Man. Quarterly Review, July 1871. 



2 Helmholtz : Ueber das Zicl und die Fortschritte der Natur- 

 wissenschaft. Eroffnungsrede fiir die Naturforscherversamm- 

 lung zu Innsbruck. 1869. 



