188 (January, 



graphical point of view, they were very interesting. Soon after his return he was 

 led to think, from " the principle of selection by man," that there was " an unerring 

 power at work in Natural Selection," acting " exclusively for the good of each 

 organic being ;" in this way he asks, " what millions on millions of generations 

 might not effect." 



The phrase " Natural Selection " is generally taken as synonymous with " Sur- 

 vival of the Fittest," but Wallace has clearly shown that whilst the former is a 

 cause, the latter is an effect. Darwin himself was eventually dissatisfied with it, 

 and would have preferred " Natural Preservation," but it was too late, the phrase 

 was in every one's mouth. Several scientific men, indeed, thought the " term good, 

 because its meaning is not obvious," and the Duke of Argyll stamps it as " a phrase 

 rich in ambiguities " (Nineteenth Century, April, 1887). 



For more than twenty years Darwin was occupied with " The Origin of Species," 

 which he thought would be forgotten in ten years. During that time, however, he 

 produced his " Monograph of the Family Cirripedia " in two volumes (Ray Society, 

 1851 and 1853), a work which showed his rare talent for investigation.* Whilst 

 doubting whether it was worth so much time (eight years), he "recognised" that 

 he had become a " trained naturalist after, and only after, the Cirripede work." 

 Prof. Huxley thought " he had never done a wiser thing " than devoting himself to 

 those " years of patient toil." 



It was in 1858 that Darwin and Wallace's papers were read at the Linnean 

 Society (July 1st). Few remarks were then made, the Fellows present thinking 

 probably, like Sir C. Lyell, that the theory was merely a " modification of Lamarck's 

 doctrine of development and progression" (vol. iii, pp. 14 and 16), to which atten- 

 tion had previously been called in the well-known " Vestiges " (1845), a work which, 

 whatever may be said, gave a great blow to the idea of the fixity of species. 



The " great work of his life " (The Origin of Species) was published in 1859, 

 and at once created a furious storm of disapprobation. " No word in the English 

 language," wrote one clergyman, "is sufficient to express my contempt for Darwin 

 and the Darwinians." Friends like Prof. Sedgwick and Dr. Whewell were almost 

 as bitter ; the latter for many years would not allow a copy to be placed in Trinity 

 College Library. 



It is in his letters which fill the greater part of the three volumes that we see 

 the inner life of the man. For more than forty years he suffered from the effects of 

 his voyage, and expressions of the pain and discomfort, from what he calls his 

 accursed stomach, are constantly occurring. For one who for so long a time never 

 enjoyed a day's ordinary good health, to have accomplished so much, is a remarkable 

 instance of intellectual energy. 



The letters are principally answers to Sir C. Lyell, Sir J. D. Hooker, Prof. 

 Huxley, Mr. Wallace, and others, who questioned some of his conclusions. Huxley 

 thought he had " loaded himself with an unnecessary difficulty " in adopting the 

 dogma of Natnra nonfacit saltum ; and again in considering "continued physical 

 conditions of little moment," why " variation should occur at all." This difficulty 



* See also " Observations on the Structure and Propagation of Sagitta," Ann. and Mag., vol. 

 xii, p. 18, seq. (1841). 



