1859 THE FLASH OF LIGHT 247 



what force remained in the dilemma creation or 

 nothing ? It was obvious that hereafter the probability 

 would be immensely greater, that the links of natural 

 causation were hidden from our purblind eyes, than that 

 natural causation should be incompetent to produce all 

 the phenomena of nature. The only rational course for 

 those who had no other object than the attainment of 

 truth was to accept " Darwinism " as a working hypothesis 

 and see what could be made of it. Either it would prove 

 its capacity to elucidate the facts of organic life, or it 

 would break down under the strain. This was surely 

 the dictate of common sense, and, for once, common sense 

 carried the day. 



Even before the " Origin " actually came out, 

 Huxley had begun to act as what Darwin afterwards 

 called his " general agent." He began to prepare the 

 way for the acceptance of the theory of evolution by 

 discussing, for instance, one of the most obvious diffi- 

 culties, namely, How is it that if evolution is ever 

 progressive, progress is not universal? It was a 

 point with respect to which Darwin himself wrote 

 soon after the publication of the " Origin " : 

 "Judging from letters . . . and from remarks, the 

 most serious omission in my book was not explaining 

 how it is, as I believe, that all forms do not neces- 

 sarily advance, how there can now be simple organisms 

 existing." (May 22, 1860.) 



Huxley's idea, then, was to call attention to the 

 persistence of many types without appreciable pro- 

 gression during geological time; to show that this 

 fact was not explicable on any other hypothesis 

 than that put forward by Darwin ; and by paleonto- 



