Strength of Darwin’s Position 
As knowledge grew, as facts accumulated, the 
belief in evolution became more widespread. 
Hutton, Lyell, Spencer, and Huxley were all 
convinced that evolution had occurred, but they 
could not explain how it had occurred. 
Thus, by the middle of last century, all that 
was needed to make evolution an article of 
scientific belief was the discovery of a method 
whereby it could be effected. This Darwin and 
Wallace were able to furnish in the shape of 
the theory of natural selection. The discovery 
was made independently, but Darwin being the 
older man, the more influential, and the one who 
had gone the more deeply and carefully into the 
matter, gained the lion’s share of the credit of 
the discovery. The theory of natural selection 
is universally known as the Darwinian theory, 
notwithstanding the fact that Darwin, unlike 
Wallace, always recognised that natural selection 
is not the sole determining factor in organic 
evolution. 
From the moment of the enunciation of his 
great hypothesis, Darwin’s position was an 
exceedingly strong one. Everything was in 
his favour. 
As we have seen, the theory was enunciated 
at the psychological moment, at the time when 
zoological science was ripe for it. Most of the 
leading zoologists were evolutionists at heart, 
and were only too ready to accept any theory 
3 
