24 THE Genesis of species. [Chap 



eye and ear. It is in great measure, then, owing to this 

 supposed simplicity, and to a belief in its being yet easier 

 and more simple than it is, that Darwinism, however imper- 

 fectly understood, has become a subject for general conver- 

 sation, and has been able thus widely to increase a certain 

 knowledge of biological matters; and this excitation of 

 interest, in quarters where otherwise it would have been en- 

 tirely wanting, is an additional motive for gratitude on the 

 part of naturalists to the authors of the new theory. At 

 the same time it must be admitted that a similar " simpli- 

 city " — the apparently easy explanation of comi)lex phe- 

 nomena — also constitutes the charm of such matters as hy- 

 dropathy and phrenology, in the eyes of the unlearned or • 

 half-educated public. It is indeed the charm of all those 

 seeming " short-cuts " to knowledge, by which the labor of 

 mastering scientific details is spared to those who yet be- 

 lieve that without such labor they can attain all the most 

 valuable results of scientific research. It is not, of course, 

 for a moment meant to imply that its " simplicity " tells at 

 all against "Natural Selection," but only that the actual or 

 supposed possession of that quality is a strong reason for / 

 the wide and somewhat hasty acceptance of the theory, 

 whether it be true or not. 



In the second place, it was inevitable that a theory ap- 

 pearing to have very grave relations with questions of the 

 last importance and interest to man, that is, with ques- 

 tions of religious belief, should call up an army of assail- 

 ants and defenders. Nor have the supporters of the 

 theory much reason, in many cases, to blame the more or 

 less unskilful and hasty attacks of adversaries, seeing that y 

 those attacks have been in great part due to the unskilful'' 

 and perverse advocacy of the cause on the part of some of 

 its adherents. If the odium theologicum has inspired 

 some of its opponents, it is undeniable that the odium aii' 

 titheologicum has possessed not a few of its supporters. 



