36 Unconscious Memory 



as to what I was likely to say, and to quote from Dr. 

 Erasmus Darwin in my forthcoming book. The announce- 

 ment, indeed, would tell almost as much as the book 

 itself to those who knew the works of Erasmus Darwin. 



As may be supposed, " Evolution, Old and New," met 

 with a very unfavourable reception at the hands of many 

 of its reviewers. The Saturday Review was furious. 

 " When a writer," it exclaimed, " who has not given as 

 many weeks to the subject as Mr. Darwin has given years, 

 is not content to air his own crude though clever fallacies, 

 but assumes to criticise Mr. Darwin with the supercilious- 

 ness of a young schoolmaster looking over a boy's theme, 

 it is difficult not to take him more seriously than he deserves 

 or perhaps desires. One would think that Mr. Butler was 

 the travelled and laborious observer of Nature, and Mr. 

 Darwin the pert speculator who takes all his facts at 

 secondhand." ^ 



The lady or gentleman who writes in such a strain as 

 this should not be too hard upon others whom she or he 

 may consider to write like schoolmasters. It is true I have 

 travelled — not much, but still as much as many others, and 

 have endeavoured to keep my eyes open to the facts 

 before me ; but I cannot think that I made any reference to 

 my travels in " Evolution, Old and New." I did not quite 

 see what that had to do with the matter. A man may get 

 to know a good deal without ever going beyond the four- 

 mile radius from Charing Cross. Much less did I imply 

 that Mr. Darwin was pert : pert is one of the last words 

 that can be applied to Mr. Darwin. Nor, again, had I 

 blamed him for taking his facts at secondhand ; no one is 

 to be blamed for this, provided he takes well-established 

 facts and acknowledges his sources. Mr. Darwin has 

 generally gone to good sources. The ground of complaint 

 against him is that he muddied the water after he had 

 drawn it, and tacitly claimed to be the rightful owner of 

 the spring, on the score of the damage he had effected. 



^ Saturday Review, May 31, 1879. 



