How It Came to Be Written 



viewers have given the whole credit to Fritz 

 Muller and Haeekel, who undoubtedly have 

 worked it out much more fully and in some 

 respects more correctly than I did. I had 

 materials for a whole chapter on the subject, 

 and I ought to have made the discussion longer; 

 for it is clear that I failed to impress my readers; 

 and he who succeeds in doing so deserves, in 

 my opinion, all the credit. 



This leads me to remark that I have almost 

 always been treated honestly by my reviewers, 

 passing over those without scientific knowledge 

 as not worthy of notice. My views have been 

 grossly misrepresented, bitterly opposed and 

 ridiculed, but this has been generally done as, 

 I believe, in good faith. On the whole, I do not 

 doubt that my works have been over and 

 over again greatly overpraised. I rejoice that 

 I have avoided controversies, and this I owe 

 to Lyell, who many years ago, in reference to 

 my geological works, strongly advised me 

 never to get entangled in a controversy, as it 

 rarely did any good and caused a miserable 

 loss of time and temper. 



"Whenever I have found out that I have 

 blundered, or that my work has been imperfect, 

 and when I have been contemptuously criti- 

 cised, and even when I have been overpraised, 

 so that I have felt mortified, it has been my 

 greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to my- 

 self that "I have worked as hard and as well 

 as I could, and no man can do more than this." 

 43 



