JSQ. 



254 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859. 



prejudices, and the admission of such views into the Times, 

 I look at as of the highest importance, quite independently of 

 the mere question of species. If you should happen to be 

 acquainted with the author, for Heaven-sake tell me who 

 he is ? 



My dear Huxley, yours most sincerely, 



C. DARWIN. 



[It is impossible to give in a short space an adequate idea 

 of Mr. Huxley's article in the Times of December 26. It is 

 admirably planned, so as to claim for the ' Origin ' a respectful 

 hearing, and it abstains from anything like dogmatism in 

 asserting the truth of the doctrines therein upheld. A few pas- 

 sages may be quoted : " That this most ingenious hypothesis 

 enables us to give a reason for many apparent anomalies in the 

 distribution of living beings in time and space, and that it is not 

 contradicted by the main phenomena of life and organisation, 

 appear to us to be unquestionable." Mr. Huxley goes on to 

 recommend to the readers of the ' Origin ' a condition of 

 " thatige Skepsis " a state of " doubt which so loves truth 

 that it neither dares rest in doubting, nor extinguish itself 

 by unjustified belief." The final paragraph is in a strong 

 contrast to Professor Sedgwick and his " ropes of bubbles " 

 (see p. 298). Mr. Huxley writes : " Mr. Darwin abhors mere 

 speculation as nature abhors a vacuum. He is as greedy of 

 cases and precedents as any constitutional lawyer, and all the 

 principles he lays down are capable of being brought to the 

 test of observation and experiment. The path he bids us 

 follow professes to be not a mere airy track, fabricated of 

 ideal cobwebs, but a solid and broad bridge of facts. If it be 

 so, it will carry us safely over many a chasm in our know- 

 ledge, and lead us to a region free from the snares of those 

 fascinating but barren virgins, the Final Causes, against whom 

 a high authority has so justly warned us." 



There can be no doubt that this powerful essay, appearing 



