378 CHAELES ROBERT DARWIN. 



time as the " Origin," an essay " On the Tendency 

 of Varieties to depart indefinitely from, the Origi- 

 nal Type." 



At once Darwin was attacked from every quar- 

 ter. Probably not since Galileo showed that the 

 earth moves round the sun has a man been so cen- 

 sured and persecuted for his opinions as was Dar- 

 win. He was declared atheistic, unsettling the 

 Christian belief, and opposed to the teachings of 

 the Bible. Professor Asa Gray of Cambridge, 

 Mass., a devoted Christian and able scientist, de- 

 fended and explained Darwin's views, now pub- 

 lished in " Darwiniana," claiming that the doctrine 

 of evolution is in no wise opposed to the power and 

 goodness of the Almighty, and quotes Charles 

 Kingsley's words : " We know of old that God 

 was so wise that he could make all things ; but 

 behold, he is so much wiser than even that, 

 that he can make all things make themselves." 

 Kingsley wrote Darwin : " I have gradually learnt 

 to see that it is just as noble a conception of Deity 

 to believe that he created primal forms capable of 

 self-development into all forms needful pro tern- 

 pore and pro loco, as to believe that he required a 

 fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas 

 which he himself had made. I question whether 

 the former be not the loftier thought." Gray be- 

 lieved that "to do any work by an instrument 

 must require, and therefore presuppose, the exer- 

 tion rather of more than of less power than to 

 do it directly." Darwin said, " There is grandeur 



