20 8 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863. 



tal ; if there is more, and you have a copy, do lend it. It 

 shows well that a scientific man had better be trampled in 

 dirt than squabble. I have been drawing diagrams, dissect- 

 ing shoots, and muddling my brains to a hopeless degree 

 about the divergence of leaves, and have of course utterly 

 failed. But I can see that the subject is most curious, and 

 indeed astonishing 



[The next letter refers to Mr. Bentham's presidential ad- 

 dress to the Linnean Society (May 25, 1863). Mr. Bentham 

 does not yield to the new theory of Evolution, " cannot sur- 

 render at discretion so long as many important outworks re- 

 main contestable." But he shows that the great body of 

 scientific opinion is flowing in the direction of belief. 



The mention of Pasteur by Mr. Bentham is in reference 

 to the promulgation " as it were ex cathedrd" of a theory of 

 spontaneous generation by the reviewer of Dr. Carpenter in 

 the Athenaum (March 28, 1863). Mr. Bentham points out 

 that in ignoring Pasteur's refutation of the supposed facts of 

 spontaneous generation, the writer fails to act with "that im- 

 partiality which every reviewer is supposed to possess."] 



" The whole neighbourhood was unsettled by their disputes ; Huxley 

 quarrelled with Owen, Owen with Darwin, Lyell with Owen, Falconer 

 and Prestwich with Lyell, and Gray the menagerie man with everybody. 

 He had pleasure, however, in stating that Darwin was the quietest of the 

 set. They were always picking bones with each other and righting over 

 their gains. If either of the gravel sifters or stone breakers found any- 

 thing, he was obliged to conceal it immediately, or one of the old bone 

 collectors would be sure to appropriate it first and deny the theft after- 

 wards, and the consequent wrangling and disputes were as endless as they 

 w r ere wearisome. 



"Lord Mayor. — Probably the clergyman of the parish might exert 

 some influence over them ? 



" The gentleman smiled, shook his head, and stated that he regretted 

 to say that no class of men paid so little attention to the opinions of the 

 clergy as that to which these unhappy men belonged." 



