14 ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



propagation of damnable heresies." Spencer had 

 hitherto never been able to convince Huxley of the 

 truth of the theory of organic evolution; but, when 

 the " Origin of Species " appeared, Huxley found in it 

 the statement of the factor of evolution for which 

 he was seeking. Many and bitter were the battles 

 between Huxley and the theologians, who were 

 supported by some biological survivors of the old 

 order, such as Owen. The old geologist, Adam 

 Sedgwick, described the theory of Darwin as the 

 " law of higgledy-piggledy." Owen attempted to 

 show — being most signally refuted by Huxley — 

 that the brain of the ape differs profoundly from the 

 brain of man. Bishop Wilberforce asked Huxley, 

 at a memorable meeting of the British Association, 

 whether it was through his grandmother or his 

 grandfather that he claimed the ape-ancestry, thus 

 earning for himself one of the most crushing retorts 

 in the history of controversy ; and Alfred Russel 

 Wallace, to Darwin's bitter grief, declared that the 

 theory, however aided or interpreted, could not 

 account for the mental and moral characters of man. 

 In a few years Haeckel and Huxley each pub- 

 lished volumes on " Man's Place in Nature " (to 

 quote Huxley's title), whilst Haeckel introduced the 

 Germans to what, by a very unfortunate and incorrect 

 use of language, he called Darwinismus or Darwinism. 

 Darwin himself had refrained, in the " Origin," from 

 applying his theory to man, lest the excitement 

 aroused should still further prejudice his book; but 

 his honesty compelled him to insert a brief sentence 

 to the effect that " much light " would be thrown by 

 his theory on the origin of man. 



