CHAPTER XIII 



1859 



In November 1859 the Origin of Species was published, 

 and a new direction was given to Huxley's activities. Ever 

 since Darwin and Wallace had made their joint communica- 

 tion to the Linnean Society in the preceding July, expecta- 

 tion had been rife as to the forthcoming book. Huxley 

 was one of the few privileged to learn Darwin's argument 

 before it was given to the world ; but the greatness of the 

 book, mere instalment as it was of the long accumulated 

 mass of notes, almost took him by surprise. Before this 

 time, he had taken up a thoroughly agnostic attitude with 

 regard to the species question, for he could not accept the 

 creational theory, yet sought in vain among the transmu- 

 tationists for any cause adequate to produce transmuta- 

 tion. He had had many talks with Darwin, and though 

 ready enough to accept the main point, maintained such a 

 critical attitude on many others, that Darwin was not by 

 any means certain of the efifect the published book would 

 produce upon him. Indeed, in his 1857 notebook, I find 

 jotted down under the head of his paper on Pygocephalus 

 (read at the Geological Society), " anti-progressive confes- 

 sion of faith." Darwin was the more anxious, as, when he 

 first put pen to paper, he had fixed in his mind three judges, 

 by whose decision he determined mentally to abide. These 

 three were Lyell, Hooker, and Huxley. If these three came 

 round, partly through the book, partly through their own 

 reflections, he could feel that the subject was safe. " No 

 one," writes Darwin on November 13, " has read it, except 

 Lyell, with whom I have had much correspondence. 

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