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NA TURE 



[Dec. 17, T885 



of a biologist — be he " English " or otherwise — it is the 

 truth that in his science it is safer to cut out his materials 

 in the way of experiment, than it is to build up his propo- 

 sitions in the way of deduction. Therefore, it is not 

 without good reason that a proved " soundness " in this 

 way of inductive research should be regarded as the best 

 title to a place among men of science as distinguished 

 from men of letters. " To be sound," says our author, 

 " is everywhere of incalculable value ; " and to be sound 

 in the present sense, " to have approved one's self to the 

 slow and cautious intelligence of the Philistine classes, is 

 a mighty spear and shield for a strong man ; but in 

 England, and above all in scientific England, it is abso- 

 lutely indispensable to the thinker who would accomplish 

 any great revolution. Soundness is to the world of 

 science what respectability is to the world of business 

 — the sine qua non for successfully gaining even a hearing 

 from established personages." And long may it continue 

 so. Surely this acknowledgment of the supremacy of the 

 inductive over the deductive methods has been gained by 

 a sufficiently long struggle in the past, and surely the 

 tardiness of this acknowledgment has been fraught with 

 evils sufficiently conspicuous to render somewhat gro- 

 tesque the term '• Philistine classes " as thus applied to 

 the devotees of observation and experiment. 



There is only one other passage upon which we have 

 anything resembling a criticism to pass, and we notice it 

 the more readily because, while it relates to a sotnewhat 

 important matter of fact, the fact is one the unwitting and 

 quite excusable misstatement of which by the present 

 biographer furnishes a good opportunity for rendering its 

 true complexion. In his chapter on " The Period of 

 Incubation of the Origin of Species" Mr. Allen says : — 



" His way was to make all sure behind him, to summon 

 up all his facts in irresistible array, and never to set out 

 upon a public progress until he was secure against all 

 possible attacks of the ever-watchful and alert enemy in 

 the rear. Few men would have had strength of mind 

 enough to resist the temptation offered by the publication 

 of the ' Vestiges of Creation,' and the extraordinary success 

 attained by so flabby a presentation of the evolutionary 

 case : Darwin resisted it, and he did wisely. We may, 

 however, take it for granted, I doubt not, that it was 

 the appearance and success of Chambers' invertebrate 

 book which induced Darwin, in 1S44 (the year of its 

 publication), to enlarge his short notes ' into a sketch of 

 the conclusions which then seemed to him probable.' 

 This sketch he showed to Dr. (now Sir Joseph) Hooker, 

 no doubt as a precaution to insure his own claim of 

 priority against any future possible competitor. And 

 having thus eased his mind for the moment, he continued 

 to observe, to read, to devour Transactions, to collate 

 instances, with indefatigable persistence for fifteen years 

 longer." 



Now, we have quoted the whole of this passage because 

 it serves to convey, in clearly expressed language, what is 

 a very general misapprehension with regard to the length 

 of "the incubation period." But Mr. Darwin has himself 

 told the present writer that the reason why he was so long 

 in publishing his theory was simply because he wished to 

 be fully persuaded in his own mind as to its truth before he 

 incurred the moral responsibility of giving it to the world. 

 Most of all those twenty years were occupied in collecting 

 evidence, and in that process of self-criticism which he 

 used to call " meditation," with the single-minded view of 

 self-persuasion. Here was surely a nobler motive, and 



one more worthy of an " inductive mind," than that of 

 accumulating evidence merely in order to make out a 

 good " case." We doubt whether the popularity of the 

 "Vestiges" exercised the smallest influence upon Mr. 

 Darwin's motives. He had no desire to make a stir 

 merely in order to secure a literary success ; and there- 

 fore he felt that the more attention his work was likely to 

 attract the more pernicious was it likely to prove, unless 

 it was throughout founded upon truth. Neither was he 

 actuated by any petty regard for priority. The reason 

 why he showed his notes to Dr. Hooker was because he 

 entertained a higher regard both for the learning and 

 the judgment of this friend than he did for those of any 

 other man. 



By a curious coincidence Dr. Kraus's biography of 

 Darwin appears in Germany about the same day as Mr. 

 Allen's in England. As we have thus received the two 

 by consecutive posts, it is impossible to avoid comparing 

 them. And the comparison is interesting, as showing the 

 differences between the public tastes to which the bio- 

 graphies are respectively addressed. While the English 

 volume is a pleasing sketch of a great life, the German 

 counterpart is an honest piece of history. Dr. Kraus has 

 spared no pains in making his work thorough. He has 

 carried his investigations through the smallest detail of 

 Mr. Darwin's life and labours ; he has brought together a 

 number of letters written by Lyell, Hooker, Haeckel, 

 Miiller, &c., and also by Darwin himself; he has given a 

 methodical account of the opinions entertained upon 

 Darwinism by all the naturalists of any note in Europe 

 and America who have either written or spoken upon the 

 subject ; and he has done all this without losing sight of 

 the strong personal interest which attaches to the cha- 

 racter of the immortal Englishman. 



Many of Mr. Darwin's own letters just alluded to are 

 translations of those written to Prof Henslow during the 

 voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, and printed for private circula- 

 tion among the Fellows of the Philosophical Society of 

 Cambridge. But all the others are translations of letters 

 now printed for the first time — the originals having been 

 lent for this purpose to Dr. Kraus by Haeckel, Preyer, 

 Fritz Miiller, and others. These letters are all more or 

 less effective in displaying the distinctive qualities of their 

 author's mind ; but if we were requested to indicate one 

 more than another which is of interest in this respect, 

 we should mention the one to Haeckel in which the 

 following passage occurs. The original English is not 

 given ; — 



" Ich hoffe, dass Sie mich nicht fur unverschamt halten 

 werden, wenn ich eine kritische Bemerkung mache : 

 Einige Ihrer Bemerkungen uber verschiedene Autoren 

 erscheinen rair zu streng, obwohl ich kein gutes Urteil 

 iiber diesen Gegenstand habe, da ich ein so kiimmerlicher 

 Schulknabe im Deutschlesen bin. Ich habe indessen von 

 verschiedenen ausgezeichneten Autoritaten und Bewun- 

 derern Ihres Werkes Klagen uber die Harte Ihrer Kritiken 

 vernommen. Dies scheint mir recht ungliicklich, denn 

 ich habe seit lange beobachtet, dass grosse Strenge die 

 Leser verfuhrt, die Partei der angegriflenen Person zu 

 ergreifen. Ich kann mich bestimmter Falle erinnern, in 

 denen Herbigkeit direkt das Gegenteil der beabsichtigten 

 Wirkung hervorbrachte. Mit Sicherheit empfinde ich, 

 dass unser guter Freund Huxley, obgleich er viel Einfluss 

 besitzt, noch weit grosseren haben wiirde, wenn er 

 gemassigter gewesen und weniger hiiufig zu Angrilfen 



