xii PREFACE. 



by many of Iris disciples, it is surprising 

 to observe the extravagant praise which 

 some of them have used towards the 

 master, possibly with the hope and ex- 

 pectation that his great name might be 

 conveniently used to cover their more 

 advanced speculative theories. Thus at 

 the time of the late Mr. Darwin's lamented 

 death, the Western Morning News confidently 

 asserted that he was to be ranked as one 

 of the three greatest teachers of science 

 which the world has ever seen. Bacon 

 ranked as the first, Newton as the second, 

 and Darwin as the third. I trust I shall 

 not be deemed irreverent, if I say that 

 such a comparison and such an order of 

 merit, reminds me of an American writer 

 who published a work entitled " Sands of 

 Gold, or the wisest sayings of Solomon, 

 Shakespeare and Martin Tupper." In 

 similar strains Professor Huxley compared 

 Darwin to Aristotle * and Newton, while 



* Professor Huxley compares Mr. Darwin to 

 Aristotle, which maybe accounted for thus. Dar- 

 win's observations on his various theories are 



