" The Origin of Species" 113 



on the descent of man made its appearance so late. Huxley, always 

 generous, never thought of claiming priority for himself. In enthu- 

 siastic language he tells how Darwin's immortal work, The Origin 

 of Species, first shed light for him on the problem of the descent of 

 man ; the recognition of a vera causa in the transformation of species 

 illuminated his thoughts as with a flash. He was now content to 

 leave what perplexed him, what he could not yet solve, as he says 

 himself, " in the mighty hands of Darwin." Happy in the bustle of 

 strife against old and deep-rooted prejudices, against intolerance and 

 superstition, he wielded his sharp weapons on Darwin's behalf; wearing 

 Darwin's armour he joyously overthrew adversary after adversary. 

 Darwin spoke of Huxley as his "general agent 1 ." Huxley says of 

 himself " I am Darwin's bulldog 2 ." 



Thus Huxley openly acknowledged that it was Darwin's Origin of 

 Species that first set the problem of the descent of man in its true 

 light, that made the question of the origin of the human race a 

 pressing one. That this was the logical consequence of his book 

 Darwin himself had long felt. He had been reproached with inten- 

 tionally shirking the application of his theory to Man. Let us hear 

 what he says on this point in his autobiography : " As soon as I had 

 become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable 

 productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under 

 the same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own 

 satisfaction, and not for a long time with any intention of publishing. 

 Although in the ' Origin of Species ' the derivation of any particular 

 species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no 

 honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views 3 , to add 

 that by the work ' light would be thrown on the origin of man and his 

 history.' It would have been useless and injurious to the success of 

 the book to have paraded, without giving any evidence, my conviction 

 with respect to his origin 4 ." 



In a letter written in January, 1860, to the Rev. L. Blomefield, 

 Darwin expresses himself in similar terms. " With respect to man, I 

 am very far from wishing to obtrude my belief; but I thought it 

 dishonest to quite conceal my opinion 5 ." 



The brief allusion in the Origin of Species is so far from prominent 

 and so incidental that it was excusable to assume that Darwin had not 

 touched upon the descent of man in this work. It was solely the 

 desire to have his mass of evidence sufficiently complete, solely 



1 Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, Vol. i. p. 171, London, 1900. 



2 Ibid. p. 363. 



3 No italics in original. 



* Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. I. p. 93. 

 8 Ibid. Vol. ii. p. 263. 



