RASHNESS OF RIVAL HYPOTHESES 19 



written on Dec. 3, 1862 ?, shows how well aware 

 he was of difficulties unnoticed by critics : 



' You speak of difficulties on Natural Selection : there are 

 indeed plenty ; if ever you have spare time (which is not 

 likely, as I am sure you must be a hard worker) I should be very 

 glad to hear difficulties from one who has observed so much 

 as you have. The majority of criticisms on the Origin are, 

 in my opinion, not worth the paper they are printed on.' * 



From the very first the most extraordinarily 

 crude and ill-considered suggestions were put for- 

 ward by those who were unable to recognize the 

 value of the theory of Natural Selection. A good 

 example is to be found in Andrew Murray's 

 principle of sexual selection based on contrast : 



' It is trite to a proverb, that tall men marry little women 

 ... a man of genius marries a fool . . . and we are told that 

 this is the result of the charm of contrast, or of qualities 

 admired in others because we do not possess them. I do 

 not so explain it. I imagine it is the effort cf nature to 

 preserve the typical medium of the race.' 2 



Even in these later years the wildest imagin- 

 ings may be put forward in all seriousness as the 

 interpretation of the world of living organisms. 

 Thus in Beccari's interesting work on Borneo, 3 

 the author compares the infancy and growth of 

 the organic world with the development and 

 education of an individual. In youth the indi- 

 vidual learns easily, being unimpeded by the 



1 More Letters, ii. 811. 



8 Life and Letters, ii. 261 n. The original paper is to be found 

 in the Proc. R. Soc. Edin. t 1860. 



8 Wanderings in the Gnat Forests of Borneo, 209-16, English 

 translation, London, 1904. 



c2 



