The Times Review 1 1 



a 



By a curious and interesting accident, Huxle}' had 

 the opportunity of beginning his propagandisra by 

 writing the first great review of The Origin of Species in 

 the Times, at that period without question the leading 

 journal in the world. Huxley's own account of this 

 happy chance is given in DarivhV s Life and Letters, 

 vol, ii. 



"The Origin was sent to Mr. Lucas, one of the staff of the 

 Times writers at that day, iu what I suppose was the ordinary 

 course of business. Mr. Lucas, though au excellent journalist, 

 and at a later period editor of Once a Week, was as innocent 

 of any knowledge of science as a babe, and bewailed himself to 

 an acquaintance on having to deal with such a book, where- 

 upon he was recommended to ask me to get him out of his 

 difficulty, and he applied to me accordingly, explaining, how- 

 ever, that it would be necessary for him formally to adopt any- 

 thing I might be disposed to write, by prefacing it with two or 

 three paragraphs of his own. 



" I was too anxious to seize on the opportunity thus offered 

 of giving the book a fair chance with the multitudinous readers 

 of the Times to make any difficulty about conditions ; and be- 

 ing then very full of the subject, I wrote the article faster, I 

 think, than I ever wrote anything in my life, and sent it to 

 Mr, Lucas, who duly prefixed his opening sentences. When 

 the article appeared, there was much speculation as to its 

 authorship. The secret leaked out in time, as all secrets will, 

 but not by my aid ; and then I used to derive a good deal of 

 innocent amusement from the vehement assertions of some of 

 my more acute friends, that they knew it was mine from the 

 first paragraph." " As the Times some years since referred to 

 my connection with the review, I suppose there will be no 

 breach of confidence in the publication of this little history." 



This review was one of the few favourable notices, 

 and naturally it delighted Darwin greatly. He wrote 

 to Hooker about it : " Have j'ou seen the splendid 

 essay and notice of my book in the Times f I cannot 

 avoid a strong suspicion that it is by Huxley ; but I 



