XI 

 THE DIVINE SOIL 



HOW few persons can be convinced of the truth 

 of that which is repugnant to their feelings ! 

 When Darwin published his conclusion that man was 

 descended from an apelike ancestor who was again 

 descended from a still lower type, most people were 

 shocked by the thought ; it was intensely repugnant 

 to their feelings. Carlyle, for instance, treated the 

 proposition with contempt. He called it the "gos- 

 pel of dirt." "A good sort of man," he said, "is 

 this Darwin, and well meaning, but with very little 

 intellect." Huxley tells of seeing the old man one 

 day upon the street, and of crossing over to greet 

 him. Carlyle looked up and said, "You're Huxley, 

 are n't you ? the man who says we are all descended 

 from monkeys," and went on his way. It would be 

 interesting to know just what Carlyle thought we 

 were descended from. Could he, or did he, doubt 

 at all that if he were to go back a few thousand 

 years over his own line of descent, he would come 

 upon rude savage men, who used stone implements, 

 and lived in caves or rude huts, who had neither 

 letters nor arts, and with whom might did indeed 

 make right, and that back of these he would find 

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