PROFESSOR LANKESTBR AND LAMARCK. 279 



prevail, I cannot ttink I should have much difficulty 

 in removing it. At any rate no such misapprehension 

 could endure for more than twenty year's, during 

 which I continued to address a public who welcomed 

 all I wrote, unless I myself aided and abetted the 

 mistake. Mr. Darwin wrote many books, but the 



.impression that Darwinism and evolution, or descent 

 with modification, are identical is still nearly as pre- 

 valent as it was soon after the appearance of the 

 " Origin of Species ; " the reason of this is, that Mr. 

 Darwin was at no pains to correct us. Where, in 

 any one of his many later books, is there a passage 

 which sets the matter in its true light, and enters a 

 protest against the misconception of which Professor 

 Eay Lankester complains so bitterly ? The only infer- 

 ence from this is, that Mr. Darwin was not. displeased 



, at our thinking him to be the originator of the theory 

 of descent with modification, and did not want us to 

 know more about Lamarck than he could help. If we 

 wanted to know about him, we must find out what he 

 had said for ourselves, it was no part of Mr. Darwin's 

 business to tell us ; he had no interest in our catch- 

 ing the distinctive difference between himself and that 

 writer ; perhaps not ; but this approaches closely to 

 wishing us to misunderstand it. When Mr. Darwin 

 wished us to understand this or that, no one knew 

 better how to show it to us. 



We were aware, on reading the " Origin of Species," 

 that there was a something about it of which we had 

 not full hold ; nevertheless we gave Mr. Darwin our 

 confidence at once, partly because he led off by telliug 



