Claypole on (Darwin and Geology. 217 
by the latter has proved in the world of matter. Here at least 
was a clue to the maze of species and varieties among which 
the student of nature was rapidly losing his way — a beacon- 
light to guide him through the darkness, a leading principle 
that could bring order out of all this chaos. Evolution pro- 
pelled by variation and guided by natural selection seemed 
capable of accounting for most of the difficulties in the existence 
and distribution of organic forms far better than any other 
cause, even than special creation. It was therefore the one which 
biologist in all fields were logically bound to adopt. Into the 
story of its struggle and final victory it is not our purpose here 
to enter. With one more point our sketch can come to a close. 
During the prosecution of his work Darwin of course con- 
templated the acceptance with which a theory so new and 
so opposed to existing beliefs and prejudices would be received. 
He knew enough of the conservative tendency of the human mind 
even among men of science to look forward with no little anx- 
iety to the day of publication. He had seen in Edinburgh the 
effect of prepossession and prejudice. When at length the 
"Origin" appeared nothing surprised him less than the fierce 
denunciation and sullen displeasure that greeted it from the 
conservative "Many" or than the timid and guarded approval 
of the liberal " Few." Foreseeing it, he had mentally chosen 
three men whose support, if he could win it beforehand, would 
in his opinion, outweigh the condemnation of all the rest of the 
world. These were his old master in geology. Sir Charles 
Lyell, then rising to the full hight of his great fame and with 
a reputation of no mean value to stake on the result. Sir J. D. 
Hooker, late director of the royal gardens at Kew, the botanist 
with perhaps the widest experience of all then living in Eng- 
land, and a young man just coming into note as a zoologist but 
of whose power Darwin entertained a very high estimate, an 
estimate fully justified by the result for he has been the fight- 
ing apostle of the new faith — Thomas H. Huxley. To pro- 
duce conviction in the minds of these three men Darwin labored 
hard and eventually succeeded, so that when the first outlines 
of the Theory were read to the Linna;an Society, and the 
whole force of the conservatives prepared to assail it witli 
