538 



ON THE RECEPTION OF 



geological science which the ' Origin ' covered ; while, too 

 commonly, they had prejudiced the case on theological 

 grounds, and, as seems to be inevitable when this happens, 

 eked out lack of reason by superfluity of railing. 



But it will be more pleasant and more profitable to con- 

 sider 'those criticisms, which were acknowledged by writers 

 of scientific authority, or which bore internal evidence of the 

 greater or less competency and, often, of the good faith, of 

 their authors. Restricting my survey to a twelvemonth, or 

 thereabouts, after the publication of the ' Origin,' I find 

 among such critics Louis Agassiz ; * Murray, an excellent 

 entomologist ; Harvey, a botanist of considerable repute ; 

 and the author of an article in the ' Edinburgh Review,' all 

 strongly adverse to Darwin. Pictet, the distinguished and 

 widely learned paleontogist of Geneva, treats Mr. Darwin 

 with a respect which forms a grateful contrast to the tone of 

 some of the preceding writers, but consents to go with him 

 only a very little way.f On the other hand, Lyell, up to 

 that time a pillar of the anti-transmutationists (who regarded 



* "The arguments presented by Darwin in favor of a universal deriva- 

 tion from one primary form of all the peculiarities existing now among liv- 

 ing beings have not made the slightest impression on my mind." 



" Until the facts of Nature are shown to have been mistaken by those 

 who have collected them, and that they have a different meaning from that 

 now generally assigned to them, I shall therefore consider the transmuta- 

 tion theory as a scientific mistake, untrue in its facts, unscientific in its 

 method, and mischievous in its tendency." — Silliman's ' Journal,' July, 

 i860, pp. 143, 154. Extract from the 3rd vol. of 'Contributions to the 

 Natural History of the United States.' 



f " I see no serious objections to the formation of varieties by natural 

 selection in the existing world, and that, so far as earlier epochs are con- 

 cerned, this law may be assumed to explain the origin of closely allied spe- 

 cies, supposing for this purpose a very long period of time." 



" With regard to simple varieties and closely allied species, I believe 

 that Mr. Darwin's theory may explain many things, and throw a great light 

 upon numerous questions." — ' Sur l'Origine de l'Espece. Par Charles Dar- 

 win.' ' Archives des Sc.de la Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve,' pp. 

 242, 243, Mars i860. 



