114 THE ' ORI GIN OF SPECIES.' [1860, 



say that the brain of the gorilla " presented more differences, 

 as compared with the brain of man, than it did when com- 

 pared with the brains of the very lowest and most proble- 

 matical of the Quadrumana." Mr. Huxley replied, and gave 

 these assertions a " direct and unqualified contradiction," 

 pledging himself to ''justify that unusual procedure else- 

 where," * a pledge which he amply fulfilled.! On Friday 

 there was peace, but on Saturday soth, the battle arose with 

 redoubled fury over a paper by Dr. Draper of New York, on 

 the ' Intellectual development of Europe considered with ref- 

 erence to the views of Mr. Darwin.' 



The following account is from an eye-witness of the scene. 



" The excitement was tremendous. The Lecture-room, in 

 which it had been arranged that the discussion should be held, 

 proved far too small for the audience, and the meeting ad- 

 journed to the Library of the Museum, which was crammed 

 to suffocation long before the champions entered the lists. 

 The numbers were estimated at from 700 to 1000. Had it 

 been term-time, or had the general public been admitted, it 

 would have been impossible to have accommodated the rush 

 to hear the oratory of the bold Bishop. Professor Henslow, 

 the President of Section D, occupied the chair and wisely an- 

 nounced in limine that none who had not valid arguments to 

 bring forward on one side or the other, would be allowed to 

 address the meeting : a caution that proved necessary, for no 

 fewer than four combatants had their utterances burked by 

 him, because of their indulgence in vague declamation. 



" The Bishop was up to time, and spoke for full half-an- 

 hour with inimitable spirit, emptiness and unfairness. It was 

 evident from his handling of the subject that he had been 

 'crammed ' up to the throat, and that he knew nothing at first 

 hand ; in fact, he used no argument not to be found in his 

 ' Quarterly ' article. He ridiculed Darwin badly, and Huxley 

 savagely, but all in such dulcet tones, so persuasive a manner, 



* ' Man's Place in Nature,' by T. H. Huxley, 1863, p. 114. 

 f See the 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1861. 



