86 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 



being " a material Atheist," Professor 

 Tyndall says "If you ask me whether 

 there exists the least evidence to prove 

 that any form of life can be developed out 

 of matter, without demonstrable antece- 

 dent life, my reply is that evidence con- 

 sidered by many has been adduced ; and 

 that were some of us who have pondered this 

 question to follow a very common example, 

 and accept testimony because it falls in 

 with our belief, we also should eagerly 

 close with the evidence referred. But there 

 is in the true man of science a wish to have 

 them true. And this stronger wish causes 

 them to reject the most plausible support, 

 if he has reason to suspect that it is vitiated 

 by error. Those to whom I refer as 

 having studied this question, believing the 

 evidence offered in favour of ' spontaneous 

 generation' to be thus vitiated, cannot 

 accept it " (p. 56). 



In the Nineteenth Century Review, January 

 and March numbers of 1878, Professor 

 Tyndall has delighted and instructed the 

 world with two most powerful articles in 



