FIRST DAY'S SITTING. 23 



who tells us that he has "assuredly no bias against Mr. 

 Darwin's views," distinctly states that " there is no instance 

 in which a group of animals, having all the characters 

 exhibited by species in nature, has ever been originated by 

 selection, whether natural or artificial." 



Lord C. What say you, Mr. Darwin, to this statement of 

 Professor Huxley ? 



Darwin. I cannot contradict it, my Lord ; but, in the 

 passage quoted, Professor Huxley is referring to a former 

 work of mine on THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF 

 NATURAL SELECTION ; or, The Preservation of Favoured 

 Races in the Struggle for Life. But Homo should have 

 stated what follows. The Professor adds, " "We will go so 

 far as to express our belief that experiments, conducted by 

 a skiifal physiologist, would very probably result in ob- 

 taining the desired production in a comparatively few years." 



Homo. The Professor is a skilful physiologist, my Lord ; 

 let him then try the experiment. I shall willingly wait a few 

 years to see the result. But numberless experiments have 

 unquestionably been made already. Mr. Darwin has no 

 doubt tried some himself unsuccessfully of course, else we 

 should not yet have heard the. end of it. Let him try 

 again. To originate a new species would confer immor- 

 tality on any physiologist. But I suspect that like will 

 persist in producing its like, in spite of naturalists and their 

 experiments. 



Lord C. Pray do not get excited, Homo ; keep calm. 



Homo. I cannot help it, my Lord, when I find myself 

 led on such a wild-goose chase after ancestors that never 

 existed, and that would be no credit to me if they had. 



Lord C. Do not be too confident ; perhaps Mr. Darwin 

 may find one of them for you yet. As I understand the 

 case so far, then, it stands thus. Professor Huxley, with 



