Teachings of Thomas Huxley 21 



crushing an argument against the intervention 

 of any but secondary causes in the production 

 of the phenomena of the Universe, that in view 

 of the relations of Man to the rest of the living 

 world I can see no excuse for doubting Na- 

 ture's great progression from formless to 

 formed, from inorganic to organic, from blind 

 force to conscious intellect and will." 



It was necessary, however, to be perfectly 

 fair and to give all due credit to the propounder 

 of the theory of the origin of species in spite 

 of public opinion ; therefore Huxley says : "I 

 do not know of any proposition that has been 

 put before us with the intention of explaining 

 the phenomena of organic nature which has in 

 its favor a thousandth part of the evidence 

 which may be adduced in favor of Mr. Dar- 

 win's views. His work is the greatest contri- 

 bution which has been made to biological sci- 

 ence since the publication of the 'Regne Ani- 

 mal' of Cuvier and since the 'History of De- 

 velopment 7 of Von Baer. Stripped of its 

 theoretical part, it still remains one of the 

 greatest encyclopedias of biological doctrine 

 that any one man ever brought forth." 



Professor Huxley shows the true scientific 

 spirit when he further declares that if, in the 

 course of time, any good reasons are presented 

 to his mind which declare that the hypothesis 

 of evolution ought to be repudiated, he will 



