CHAPTEK XXV 
THE MAKING OF THE ' OKIGIN ' : SCIENCE AND 
FRIENDSHIP 
Modern Science dates from before or after the ' Origin of 
Species.' The pubhcation of the book was, so to say, the 
Hegira of Science. By it the science of hving things was 
revolutionised and every other branch of natural science was 
stirred. After the vested interests of current opinion rose 
up in a great turmoil, Philosophy took a new element into 
her reckoning. The Natural Sciences claimed their rights as 
knowledge, discipline, and power. 
But the making of the ' Origin ' is not only a history of 
science — it is the history of a great friendship. In its fabric 
the two strands are indissolubly interwoven. As Darwin ex- 
claimed to his friend, ' Talk of fame, honour, pleasure, wealth 
— all are dirt compared with affection, and this is a doctrine 
[in] which I know from your letter that you will agree from the 
bottom of your heart,' so the achievement is ennobled by the 
warm human affection that so long sustained the worker and 
aided the work. For twenty years the materials for the task 
were being amassed ; for fifteen of these years Hooker was 
Darwin's confidant and helper. Without Hooker's aid Darwin's 
great work w^ould hardly have been carried out on the botanical 
side.' 1 In his quiet isolation at Down, cut off from the ordin- 
ary converse of the world by the perpetual uncertainties of ill- 
health, Darwin found refreshment and deUght in pouring out 
to his friend his schemes of research and his wonderful experi- 
1 Sir F. Darwin and Professor Seward, in M.L. i. p. 39. 
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