108 HUXLEY 



Meeting of i860. Apropos of some friction with 

 Owen in 1852, he said, in a letter to his sister, that 

 he was " quite ready to fight half-a-dozen dragons." 

 He was then writing for his living, and, referring to 

 his jealous rival's " bitter pen," he adds, " I flatter 

 myself that, on occasion, I can match him in that 

 department. 1 Eight years after, the serious issues 

 between himself and the anti-Darwinians, added to 

 his eagerness for the fray unguibus et rostro. This 

 was gratified by the opportunity for exercise of a pen 

 never dipped in malice. By a happy chance the 

 columns of the Times were opened to him for a 

 review of the Origin of Species. The book had been 

 sent to Mr. Lucas, a member of the staff, who " was 

 as innocent of any knowledge of science as a babe," 

 and who, at the suggestion of a friend, passed-on the 

 copy to Huxley, stipulating only that he should pref- 

 ace the article with a few sentences. The review 

 appeared on 26th December, 1859, an d thereby 

 Huxley secured the aid of the then influential paper 

 in "giving the book a fair start with the multitudi- 

 nous readers of the leading journal " — " the educated 

 mob who derive their ideas from the Times" as he 

 said in a letter to Hooker. 2 The review is reprinted 

 in the second volume of Collected Essays, in which, 

 under the title " Darwiniana," are included allied 



*I. 98. 2 I. 177. 



