24 HUXLEY 



which, whether it takes him straight home or not, 

 certainly goes his way." The great effect of Dar«in!s 

 view was that it provided the biologist with an al- 

 ternative answer to the question — " If not by special 

 creation, then how did species originate T" TJp to 

 that time there had been no other accepted answer 

 available, and the extreme reasonableness of Darwin's 

 view is reflected in Huxley's thought : " How stupid 

 not to have thought of that." Even before the pub- 

 lication of Darwin's great work, Huxley had been 

 in very close association with the great evolutionist, 

 and had in a measure paved the way for the accept- 

 ance of the theory by discussing various questions 

 which bore upon it. Darwin describes Huxley's 

 championship of himself, and his great assistance, by 

 terming Huxley his " general agent." 



The hottest jpart of the discussion which followed 

 the year 1859 was that which centred itself around 

 the application of Darwin's theories to the evolu- 

 tion of man himself. It was here, of course, that 

 Huxley was most at home^ because on his own ground 

 of development and vertebrate anatomy. The dis- 

 cussion was carried on by all sorts and conditions 

 of men, with prejudice and passion, with scorn, ridi- 

 cule, misrepresentation, and abuse, and, in spite of 

 suffering from all of these in turn, Huxley, unabashed, 

 told Darwin that he would stx)p at no point_sp Jong 

 as his clear reason took him further. 



An excellent opportunity of helping Darwin came 

 when the book was put into Huxley's hand to review 

 for The Times. The review was not signed, but its 

 authorship ultimately became known. It created 

 considerable sensation, and Huxley hoped that it 

 " may have made some of the educated mob, who 



