Ch. XHL] REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS, 1860. 237 



June 28th, Dr. Daubeny of Oxford made a communication to 

 Section D : "On the final causes of the sexuality of plants, 

 with particular reference to Mr. Darwin's work on the Origin 

 of Species.'" Mr. Huxley was called on by the President, but 

 tried (according to the Athenaeum report) to avoid a discussion, 

 on the ground " that a general audience, in which sentiment 

 would unduly interfere with intellect, was not the public before 

 which such a discussion should be carried on." However, the 

 subject was not allowed to drop. Sir E. Owen (I quote from 

 the Athenseum, July 7th, 1860), who " wished to approach this 

 subject in the spirit of the philosopher," expressed his " con- 

 viction that there were facts by which the public could come to 

 some conclusion with regard to the probabilities of the truth 

 of Mr. Darwin's theory." He went on to say that the brain of 

 the gorilla " presented more differences, as compared with the 

 brain of man, than it did when compared with the brains of 

 the very lowest and most problematical of the Quadrumana." 

 Mr. Huxley replied, and gave these assertions a " direct and 

 unqualified contradiction," pledging himself to "justify that 

 unusual procedure elsewhere," * a pledge which he amply 

 fulfilled.! On. Friday there was peace, but on Saturday 30th, 

 the battle arose with redoubled fury, at a conjoint meeting of 

 three Sections, over a paper by Dr. Draper of New York, on 

 the " Intellectual development of Europe considered with 

 reference 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.J Professor Henslow, the President 

 of Section D, occupied the chair, and wisely announced 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 



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



t See the Nat. Hist Bcview, 1861. 



X It was well known that Bishop Wilberforce was going to speak. 



