Tin: /;/:/ ./-M> r .\ />/>i: /-:s& 473 



he not found Wallace upon liis track.* A concentrated, 



but full and powerful, epitome ,f his labors was th- 

 sequence. The hook was by no means an 

 probably nut. one i: wiio tin-- 



it, had read it> pa^es kbit) ..mpetei/ 



their significance if they had. I do not .-ay this merely to 

 discredit them: for there were in th'-e days some ivally 

 eminent scientific men, entirely raised above the heat of 

 popular prejudice, ami willing to accept any conclusion 

 thnt science had to olTer, provided it was duly hacked by 

 md argument, who entirely mistook Mr. Darwin's 

 views. In fact, the work needed an expounder, and it. 

 found one in Mr. Huxley. I know nothing mere admirable 

 in the way of scientific exposition than those early articles 

 of his on the origin of species. He swept the cur 

 discussion through the really significant points of the sub- 

 ject, enriched his exposition with profound original remarks 

 and reflections, often summing up in a single pithy sen- 

 tence an argument which a less compact mind would have 

 spread over pages. Hut there is one impression made by 

 the book itself which no exposition of it, however luminous, 

 can convey; and that is the impression of the vast amount 

 of labor, both of observation and of thought, implied in 

 it.- production. Let us glance at its principles. 



It is conceded on all hands that what are called '* varie- 

 ties" are continually produced. The rule is probably 

 without exception. \o chick, or child, is in all respects 

 and particulars the counterpart of iN brother and sister; 

 and in such differences we have " variety" incipient. No 

 naturalist could tell how far this variation could be carried; 

 but the great mass of them held that never, by any amount 

 of internal or external change, nor by the mixture of both, 

 could the offspring of the same progenitor so far deviate 

 f:"in each other as to constitute different species. The 

 function of tin- experimental philosopher is to combine the 

 conditions of Nature and to produce her re-ulis; and this 

 was the method of Darwin. f He made himself acquainted 



Tin- behavior .,f Mr Walla.-,- in r.-lat im, to this siil.jert I.ILH been 

 di^nilii-.i ni t IM- 



nl \|>Tim-Mtiil <li-nmnstnttinn h an been 



D nii^lit. ii r..ii|. 



furnish iluta of inrulriilulili- value, \\liirli oti^lit to IM- .supl'lied to the 

 .f lit.- f . 



