On Hooker's return from the voyage in 1843, a friendly letter from Darwin commenced that remarkable correspondence, which will always afford the best means of judging of the development of ideas in Darwin's mind. Hooker's wide knowledge of plants—especially of all questions concerning their distribution—was of invaluable assistance to Darwin, at a time when his attention was more particularly absorbed by geology and zoology, while botany had not as yet received much attention from him. Hooker's experience, gained in travel, his sound judgment and balanced mind made him a judicious adviser, while his caution and candour fitted him to become a trenchant critic of new suggestions, scarcely inferior in that respect to Lyell.

Darwin does not appear to have made the acquaintance of Huxley till a considerably later date; but we find the great comparative anatomist had in 1851 already become so deeply impressed by Darwin, that he said in writing to a friend he 'might be anything if he had good health[130].' Huxley used to visit Darwin at Down occasionally, and I have often heard the latter speak of the instruction and pleasure he enjoyed from their intercourse.

For many years of his life, Darwin used to come to London and stay with his brother or daughter for about a week at a time, and on these occasions—which usually occurred about twice in the year I believe—he would meet Lyell to 'talk Geology,' Hooker for discussions on Botany, and Huxley for Zoology.

For twenty years Darwin had 'collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed enquiries, by conversations with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by extensive reading.' 'When,' he added, 'I see the list of books of all kinds which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry[131].' In September 1854 the Barnacle work was finished and 10,000 specimens sent out of the house and distributed, and then he devoted himself to arranging his 'huge pile of notes, to observing and experimenting in relation to the transmutation of species.'

It was early in 1856 when this work had been completed, that, again urged by Lyell, he actually commenced writing his book. It was planned as a work on a considerable scale and, if finished, would have reached dimensions three or four times as great as did eventually the Origin of Species. Working steadily and continuously he had got as far as Chapter X, completing more than one half the book, when as he says Wallace's letter and essay came 'like a bolt from the blue.'

Oppressed by illness, anxiety and perplexity, as we have seen that Darwin was at the time, he fortunately consented to leave matters—though with great reluctance—in the hands of his friends Lyell and Hooker. They took the wise course of reading Wallace's paper at the Linnean Society on July 1st, 1858, at the same time giving extracts from Darwin's memoir written in 1844, and the abstract of a letter written by Darwin in 1857 to the distinguished American botanist, Asa Gray. This solution of the difficulty happily met with the complete approval of Wallace; and, as the result of the episode, Darwin came to the conclusion that it would not be wise to defer full publication of his views, until the extensive work on which he was engaged could be finished, but an 'abstract' of them must be prepared and issued with as little delay as possible.

For a time there was hesitation, as Darwin's correspondence with Lyell and Hooker shows, between the two plans of sending this 'abstract' to the Linnean Society in a series of papers or of making it an independent book. But Darwin entertained an invincible dislike to submitting his various conclusions to the judgment of the Council of a Society, and, in the end, the preparation of the 'Abstract' in the form of a book of moderate size, was decided on. This was the origin of Darwin's great work.

The sickness at Down had led to the abandonment of the house for a time, and, three weeks after the reading of the joint paper at the Linnean Society, we find Darwin temporarily established at Sandown, in the Isle of Wight, where the writing of the Origin of Species was commenced. The work was resumed in September when the family returned to Down, and from that time was pressed forward with the greatest diligence.

For the first half of the book, the task before Darwin was to condense, into less than one half their dimensions, the chapters he had already written for the large work as originally projected. But for the second half of the book, he had to expand directly from the essay of 1844.

So closely did Darwin apply himself to the work, that, by the end of March 28th, 1859, he was able to write to Lyell telling him that he hoped to be ready to go to press early in May, and asking advice about publication: he says, 'My Abstract will be about five hundred pages of the size of your first edition of the Elements of Geology.' Lyell introduced Darwin to John Murray, who had issued all his own works, and the present representative of that publishing firm has placed on record a very interesting account of the ever thoughtful and considerate relations between Darwin and his publishers, which were maintained to the end[132].

The MS. of the book seems to have been practically finished early in May, and Darwin's health then broke down for a time, so completely that he had to retire to a hydropathic establishment. By June 21st he was able to write to Lyell 'I am working very hard, but get on slowly, for I find that my corrections are terrifically heavy, and the work most difficult to me. I have corrected 130 pages, and the volume will be about 500. I have tried my best to make it clear and striking, but very much fear that I have failed; so many discussions are and must be very perplexing. I have done my best. If you had all my materials, I am sure you would have made a splendid book. I long to finish, for I am certainly worn out[133].' On September 10th the last proof was corrected and the preparation of the index commenced. At the meeting of the British Association in Aberdeen, Lyell made the important announcement of the approaching publication of the great work. On November 24th the book was issued, 1250 copies having been printed, and Darwin wrote to Murray, 'I am infinitely pleased and proud at the appearance of my child.' The edition was sold out in a day, and was followed early in the next year by the issue of 3000 copies; and untold thousands have since appeared.

The writing of such a work as the Origin of Species, in so short a time—especially taking into consideration the condition of its author's health—was a most remarkable feat. It would, of course, not have been possible but for the fact that Darwin's mind was completely saturated with the subject, and that he had command of such an enormous body of methodically arranged notes. He showed the greatest anxiety to convince his scientific contemporaries, and at the same time to make his meaning clear to the general reader. With the former object, both MS. and printed proofs were submitted to the criticism of Lyell and Hooker; and the latter end was obtained by sending the MS. to a lady friend, Miss G. Tollet—she, as Darwin says 'being an excellent judge of style, is going to look out errors for me.' Finally the proofs of the book were carefully read by Mrs Darwin herself.

The splendid success achieved by the work is a matter of history. Its clearness of statement and candour in reasoning pleased the general public; critics without any profound knowledge of natural history were beguiled into the opinion that they understood the whole matter! and, according to their varying tastes, indulged in shallow objection or slightly offensive patronage. The fully-anticipated, theological vituperation was of course not lacking, but most of the 'replies' to Darwin's arguments were 'lifted' from the book itself, in which objections to his views were honestly stated and candidly considered by the author.

The best testimony to the profound and far-reaching character of the scientific discussions of the Origin of Species is found in the fact that both Hooker and Huxley, in spite of their wide knowledge and long intercourse with Darwin, found the work, so condensed were its reasonings, a 'very hard book' to read, one on which it was difficult to pronounce a judgment till after several perusals!

It would be idle to speculate at the present day whether the cause of Evolution would have been better served by the publication, as Darwin at one time proposed, of a 'Preliminary Essay,' like that of 1844, or by the great work, which had been commenced and half completed in 1858, rather than by the 'abstract,' in which the theory of Natural Selection was in the end presented to the world. Probably the more moderate dimensions of the Origin of Species made it far better suited for the general reader; while the condensation which was necessitated did not in the end militate against its influence with men of science. It will I think be now generally conceded that the great success of this grand work was fully deserved. A subject of such complexity as that which it dealt with could only be adequately discussed in a manner that would demand careful attention and thought on the part of the reader; and Darwin's well-weighed words, carefully balanced sentences, and guarded reservations are admirably adapted to the accomplishment of the difficult task he had undertaken. The Origin of Species has been read by the millions with pleasure, and, at the same time, by the deepest thinkers of the age with conviction.

It is scarcely possible to refer to the literary style of Darwin's work without a reference to a misconception arising from that very candid analysis of his characteristics which he wrote for the satisfaction of his family, but which has happily been given to the world by his son. In his early life Darwin was exceedingly fond of music, and took such delight in good literature, especially poetry, that when on his journeys in South America he found himself able to carry only one book with him, the work chosen was the poems of Milton—the former student of his own Christ's College, Cambridge. But towards the end of his life, Darwin had sadly to confess that he found that he had quite lost the capacity of enjoying either music or the noblest works of literature.

Some have argued that Darwin's scientific labours must have actually proved destructive to his artistic and literary tastes, and have even gone so far as to assert—in spite of numerous examples to the contrary—that there is a natural antithesis between the mental conditions that respectively favour scientific and artistic excellence.

But I think there is a very simple explanation of the loss by Darwin of his powers of enjoyment of music and poetry, a loss which he evidently greatly deplored. His scientific undertaking was so gigantic, and, at the same time, his health was so broken and precarious, that he felt his only chance of success lay in utilizing, for the tasks before him, every moment that he was free from acute suffering and retained any power of working. Consequently, when the self-imposed task of each day was completed, he found himself in a state of mental collapse. Now to appreciate the beauties of fine music or the work of a great writer certainly demands that the mind should be fresh and unjaded, whereas, at the only times Darwin had for relaxation, he was quite unfitted for these higher delights. We are not surprised then to learn that he sought and found relief in listening to his wife's reading of some pleasant novel or in the nightly game of backgammon, as the only means of resting his wearied brain.

No one who had the privilege of conversing with Darwin in his later years can doubt of his having retained to the end the full possession of his refined tastes as well as his great mental powers. His love for and sympathy with every movement tending to progress—especially in the scientific and educational world—his devotion to his friends, with no little indulgence of indignation for what he thought false or mean in others, these were his conspicuous characteristics, and they were combined with a gentle playfulness and sense of humour, which made him the most delightful and loveable of companions.



CHAPTER XI

THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN'S WORKS

In two essays 'On the Coming of Age of the Origin of Species[134],' and 'On the Reception of the Origin of Species[135],' published in 1880 and 1887 respectively, Huxley has discussed the course of events following the publication of Darwin's great work, he having the advantage of being one of the chief actors in those events. There is a striking parallelism between the manner that the Principles of Geology had been received thirty years earlier, and the way that the Origin of Species was met, both by Darwin's scientific contemporaries and the reading public.

At the outset, as we have already intimated, Lyell and Darwin were equally fortunate, in that each found a critic, in one of the chief organs of public opinion, who was at the same time both competent and sympathetic. The story of the lucky accident by which this came about in Darwin's case has been told by Huxley himself[136].

'The Origin was sent to Mr Lucas, one of the staff of the Times writers at that time, in what was I suppose the ordinary course of business. Mr Lucas, though an excellent journalist, ... was as innocent of any knowledge of science as a babe, and bewailed himself to an acquaintance on having to deal with such a book. Whereupon, he was recommended to ask me to get him out of the difficulty, and he applied to me accordingly, explaining, however, that it would be necessary for him formally to adopt anything I might be disposed to write, by prefacing it with two or three paragraphs of his own.'

'I was too anxious to seize upon the opportunity thus offered of giving the book a fair chance with the multitudinous readers of the Times, to make any difficulty about conditions; and being then very full of the subject, I wrote the article faster, I think, than I ever wrote anything in my life, and sent it to Mr Lucas who duly prefixed his opening sentences[137].'

Many journalists, however, were less conscientious than Mr Lucas, and most of the other early notices of the book were pretty equally divided between undiscriminating praise of it as a novelty and foolish reprobations of its 'wickedness.'

It was fortunate that Darwin followed the strong advice given to him by Lyell, and did not attempt to reply to the adverse criticisms; for the only effect of these was to arouse curiosity and thus to increase the circulation of the book.

Although Darwin had wisely avoided the danger of exciting prejudice against his work by definitely applying the theory of Natural Selection to the case of man—simply remarking, in order to avoid the charge of concealing his views, that 'light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history'—yet friends and foes alike at once drew what was the necessary corollary from the theory. It is as amusing, as it is surprising at the present day, to recall the storm of prejudice which was excited. At the British Association Meeting at Oxford in 1860, after an American professor had indignantly asked the question, 'Are we a fortuitous concourse of atoms?' as a comment on Darwin's views, Dr Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, ended a clever but flippant attack on the Origin by enquiring of Huxley, who was present as Darwin's champion, if it 'was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey?'

Huxley made the famous and well-deserved retort:—

'I asserted—and I repeat—that a man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor whom I should feel ashamed in recalling, it would rather be a man—a man of restless and versatile intellect—who not content with success in his own sphere of activity, plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digressions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice[138].'

The violent attack on Darwin's views by the once-famous Bishop of Oxford was outdone, a few years later, by an even more absurd outburst on the part of Benjamin Disraeli, who—after stigmatising Darwinism as the question 'Is man an ape or an angel?'—declared magniloquently to the episcopal chairman, 'My Lord, I am on the side of the angels!'

But in spite of attacks like these and numerous bitter pasquinades and comic cartoons—perhaps to some extent in consequence of them—Darwin's views became widely known and eagerly discussed, so that the circulation of the Origin of Species went up by leaps and bounds. Nevertheless, as Huxley said, 'years had to pass away before misrepresentation, ridicule and denunciation, ceased to be the most notable constituents of the multitudinous criticisms of his work which poured from the press.'

Among his contemporary men of science Darwin could at first count few converts. Hooker, whose candid and valuable criticisms of his friend's work had been continued up to the very end during its composition, did an eminent service to the cause of Evolution by publishing, almost simultaneously with the Origin of Species, his splendid memoir on The Flora of Australia, its Origin, Affinities, and Distribution, in which similar views were, not obscurely, indicated. Of Lyell, Darwin's other friend and counsellor, Huxley justly says:

'Lyell, up to that time a pillar of the antitransmutationists (who regarded him, ever afterwards, as Pallas Athene may have looked at Dian, after the Endymion affair), declared himself a Darwinian, though not without putting in a serious caveat. Nevertheless, he was a tower of strength and his courageous stand for truth as against consistency, did him infinite honour[139].'

Huxley himself accepted the theory of Natural Selection—but not without some important reservations—these, however, did not prevent him from becoming its most ardent and successful champion. Darwin used to acknowledge Huxley's great service to him in undertaking the defence of the theory—a defence which his own hatred of controversy and the state of his health made him unwilling to undertake—by laughingly calling him 'my general agent!' while Huxley himself in replying to the critics, declared that he was 'Darwin's bulldog.'

Although, at first, Darwin was able to enumerate less than a dozen naturalists who were prepared to accept his views, while influential leaders of thought in science—like Richard Owen in this country and Louis Agassiz in America—were bitterly opposed to them, the theory gradually obtained supporters especially among the younger cultivators of botany, zoology and geology.

It is evident that Darwin for some time regarded his 'abstract,' as he called the Origin of Species, as only a temporary expedient—one to be superseded by the publication of the much more extended work, designed and commenced long before. Although the Origin was only published late in November 1859, and he was called upon immediately to prepare a second edition, we find that on January 1st, 1860, Darwin began to arrange his materials for dealing with the first great division of his subject, 'the variation of animals and plants under domestication.' So numerous and important were his notes and records of experiments, however, that he soon found that to expand the whole of the 'abstract,' on the same scale, would be an impossible task for any one man, however able and diligent. Unwilling that the results of some of his special researches should be lost, he wisely determined to issue them as separate books. The first of these to appear was that on the Fertilisation of Orchids, a beautiful illustration of the relation of insects to flowers in producing crossing. He had been more than twenty years working and experimenting on this subject, his interest in it having been quickened by having read an almost forgotten book of the botanist Sprengel. Almost at the same time, and in following years, he wrote papers for the Linnean Society on dimorphic and trimorphic forms of flowers, and their bearing on the question of cross-fertilisation. These papers were the foundation of his well-known work, The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species. In the same way, a paper read in 1864 to the Linnean Society was subsequently expanded into The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants.

Owing to delays caused by the preparation and publication of these books and frequent interruptions from sickness, the work on variation did not appear till 1868. It was a very extensive piece of work in two volumes, and, at its end, Darwin tentatively propounded a hypothesis to account for the facts of Heredity and Variation to which he gave the name of 'pangenesis.'

Charles Darwin had reached the age of fifty, when he wrote the Origin of Species. At a very early period in his career, he had resolved that he would never start a new theory or revise an old one after he was sixty; as he used laughingly to say, 'I have seen too many of my friends make fools of themselves by doing that.' But as he approached this 'fatal age,' one more subject of a theoretical and highly controversial nature remained to be dealt with, namely, the question of the application of the theory of natural selection to man, both as regards his physical structure and his intellectual and moral characteristics.

Darwin tells us that in 1837 or '38, as soon as he had become 'convinced that species were mutable productions,' he 'could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same law[140].' From that time, he began collecting facts bearing on the question. As each of his children was born, he examined closely the signs of dawning intelligence, and made notes of the manner in which new sensations and passions were exhibited by them. His dog and other animals, for whom he always showed the greatest fondness, were closely watched with the object of noting correspondences between their mental and moral processes and their modes of exhibiting them and our own; while visits were made by him to the Zoological Gardens with the same object. By reading and correspondence also, an enormous mass of notes was collected, and on February 4th, 1868, having seen his great work on Variation under Domestication published, Darwin was able to make the entry in his diary, 'Began work on Man.'

As was usual with most of his works, Darwin underestimated the time required to complete it. Through all the years 1867—'68, '69 and '70 we find the entries in his diary 'working at Descent of Man,' and only early in the year 1871 was the book finished. His original plan of compressing his notes on the expression of the Emotions into a chapter at the end of the book proved to be impracticable, and the material was reserved for a new work. This work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, was commenced directly the Descent of Man was out of hand, a rough copy was finished by April 27th, 1871, but the last proofs were not corrected till August 23rd, 1873.

In dealing with the question of the origin of the human race, Darwin was led to propound his views concerning Sexual selection, the results of the preferences shown by males and females, respectively, not only among mankind, but in various other animals. It was with respect to some of the conclusions contained in this work that Wallace found himself unable to follow Darwin. Wallace maintained that while man's body could have been developed by Natural Selection, his intellectual and moral nature must have had a different origin. He also declined to adopt the theory of sexual selection, so far as it depends on preferences exhibited by females for beauty in the males. Wallace, however, in some respects has always been disposed to attach more importance to Natural Selection, as the greatest, if not the only factor in evolution, than Darwin himself.

It will be seen that although Darwin had in all probability thought out all his important theoretical conclusions before 1869, when he reached the 'fatal age,' yet, owing to various delays, the books, in which he embodied his views, had not all appeared till more than four years later.

Lyell, who was a convinced evolutionist before the publication of the Principles of Geology, as is shown by his letters,—and the fact is strongly insisted on both by Huxley and Haeckel[141],—was slow in coming into complete agreement with Darwin concerning the theory of Natural Selection. While he followed his friend's investigations with the deepest interest, his less sanguine nature led him often to despair of the possibility of solving 'the mystery of mysteries.' As Darwin wrote only a year before his own death, Lyell 'would advance all possible objections to my suggestions, and even after these were exhausted would long remain dubious[142].' It is evident from the correspondence that Darwin was at times tempted to become impatient with the friend, for whose advocacy of his views he so deeply longed. Fourteen years after the publication of the Origin of Species, however, Lyell, in his Antiquity of Man, gave in his adhesion to Darwin's theory but, even then, not in the unqualified manner that the latter desired. Yet I have reason to know that some years before his death, Lyell was able to assure his friend of his complete agreement, and Darwin, six years after the loss of his friend, wrote, 'His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though he had gained much fame by opposing Lamarck's views, and this after he had grown old.' Darwin adds that Lyell, referring to the 'fatal age' of sixty, said 'he hoped that now he might be allowed to live[143]!'

When I first came into personal relations with Darwin, after the death of Lyell in 1875, he was in the habit of deprecating any idea of his writing on theoretical questions. He used to talk of 'playing with plants and such things,' and undoubtedly derived the greatest pleasure from his ingenious experimental researches. The result of this 'play' in which Darwin took such delight is seen in his books on the Power of Movement in Plants and Insectivorous Plants; full of the records of ingenious experiments and patient observation.

It was a great relief to Darwin that his friend Wallace was able in 1871 to undertake the preparation of a work on The Geographical Distribution of Animals, for, on many points, the views held by Wallace on this subject were more in accordance with Darwin's own, than were those of Lyell and Hooker. Nevertheless, on all questions connected with the geographical distribution of plants, and the causes by which they were brought about, Darwin always expressed the fullest confidence in Hooker's judgment, and the greatest satisfaction with his results.

With regard to another great division of his work, that dealing with the imperfection, but yet great value, of the geological record, Darwin was always anxious, when I met him, to learn of any new discoveries. But he felt that he had done all that was possible in his outline of the subject in the Origin, and that he must leave to palaeontologists all over the world the filling in of these outlines. So great was the delight with which he used to hear of new discoveries in palaeontology, that I often recall our conversations in these later days, when so many interesting forms of extinct animal and vegetable life—veritable 'missing links'—are being discovered in all parts of the globe, and wish that he could have known of them. They are indeed 'Facts for Darwin.'

Very happy indeed was Charles Darwin in the last years of his useful life, in returning to his oldest 'love'—geology. In studying the action of earthworms he found a geological study in which his rare powers of ingenious experimentation could be employed with profit. His earliest published memoir had dealt with the question, and for more than forty years with dogged perseverance, he had laboured at it from time to time. It was delightful to watch his pleasure as he examined what was going on in the flower-pots full of mould in his study, and when his book was published and favourably received, he rejoiced in it as 'the child of his old age[144].'

Charles Darwin's death took place rather more than twenty-two years after the publication of the Origin of Species. Before he passed away, he had the satisfaction of knowing that the doctrine of evolution had come to be—mainly through his own great efforts—the accepted creed of all naturalists and that even for the world at large it had lost its imaginary terrors. As Huxley wrote a few days after our sad loss, 'None have fought better, and none have been more fortunate, than Charles Darwin. He found a great truth trodden underfoot, reviled by bigots, and ridiculed by all the world; he lived long enough to see it, chiefly by his own efforts, irrefragably established in science, inseparably incorporated with the common thoughts of men, and only hated and feared by those who would revile, but dare not. What shall a man desire more than this[145]?'

More than a quarter of a century has passed since these words were written. How during that period the influence of Darwin's writings on human thought has grown, in an accelerated ratio, will be seen by anyone who will turn the pages of the memorial volume—Darwin and Modern Science—published fifty years after the Origin of Species. Therein, not only zoologists, botanists and geologists, but physicists, chemists, anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, philologists, historians—and even politicians and theologians—are found testifying to the important part which Darwin's great work has played, in revolutionising ideas and moulding thought in connexion with all branches of knowledge and speculation.



CHAPTER XII

THE PLACE OF LYELL AND DARWIN IN HISTORY

From the account given in the foregoing pages, it will be seen that—without detracting from the merits of their predecessors or the value of the labours of their contemporaries—we must ascribe the work of establishing on a firm foundation of observation and reasoning the doctrine of evolution—both in the inorganic and the organic world—to the investigations and writings of Lyell and Darwin.

Lyell had to oppose the geologists of his day, who led by Buckland in this country and by Cuvier on the continent, were almost, without exception, hopelessly wedded to the doctrines of 'Catastrophism,' and bitterly antagonistic to all ideas savouring of continuity or evolution. And, in the same way, Darwin, at the outset, found himself face to face with a similarly hostile attitude, on the part of biologists, with respect to the mode of appearance of new species of plants and animals.

While Darwin doubtless derived his inspiration, and much valuable aid, from the Principles of Geology, and its gifted author, yet Lyell, with all his clearness of vision, logical faculty and literary skill, did not possess the strong faith and resolute courage—to say nothing of that wonderful tenacity of purpose and power of research which were such striking characteristics of Darwin—which would have enabled him to do for the organic what he did for the inorganic world. If it be true, as Darwin used to suggest, that the Origin of Species might never have been written had not Lyell first produced the Principles of Geology, I believe it is no less certain that the crowning of Lyell's great edifice, by the full application of his principles to the world of living beings, could only have been accomplished by a man possessing, in unique combination, the powers of observation, experiment, reasoning and criticism, joined to unswerving determination, which distinguished Darwin.

Starting from Lyell's most advanced post, Darwin boldly advanced into regions in which his friend was unable to lead, and indeed long hesitated to follow. Together, for nearly forty years, the two men—influencing one another 'as iron sharpeneth iron'—thought and communed and worked, aided at all times by the wide knowledge and judicious criticism of the sagacious Hooker; and together the fame of these men will go down to posterity.

There is a tendency, when a great man has passed from our midst, to estimate his merits and labours with undiscriminating, and often perhaps exaggerated, admiration; and this excessive praise is too often followed by a reaction, as the result of which the idol of one generation becomes almost commonplace to the next. A still further period is required before the proper position of mental perspective is reached by us, and a just judgment can be formed of the man's real place in history. The reputations of both Lyell and Darwin have, I think, passed through both these two earlier phases of thought, and we may have arrived at the third stage.

There was one respect in which both Lyell and Darwin failed to satisfy many both of their contemporaries and successors. Lyell, like Hutton, always deprecated attempts to go back to a 'beginning,' while Darwin, who strongly supported Lyell in his geological views, was equally averse to speculations concerning the 'origin of life on the globe.' Scrope[146], and also Huxley[147] in his earlier days, held the opinion that it was legitimate to assume or imagine a beginning, from which, with ever diminishing energy, the existing 'comparatively quiet conditions,' thought to characterise the present order of the world, would be reached. Both Lyell and Darwin insisted that geology is a historical science, and must be treated as such quite distinct from Cosmogony. And in the end, Huxley accepted the same view[148]. 'Geology,' he asserted, 'is as much a historical science as archaeology.'

The sober historian has always had to contend against the traditional belief that 'there were giants on the earth in those days!' The love of the marvellous has always led to the ascription of past events to the work of demigods who were not of like powers and passions with ourselves. Hence the invention of those 'catastrophies'—in which the reputations of deities as well as of men and women have often suffered. It is the same tendency in the human mind which makes it so difficult to conceive of all the changes in the earth's surface-features and its inhabitants being due to similar operations to those still going on around us.

Lyell's views have constantly been misrepresented by the belief being ascribed to him that 'the forces operating on the globe have never acted with greater intensity than at the present day.' But his real position in this matter was a frankly 'agnostic' one. 'Bring me evidence,' he would have said, 'that changes have taken place on the globe, which cannot be accounted for by agencies still at work when operating through sufficiently long periods of time, and I will abandon my position.' But such evidence was not forthcoming in his day, and I do not think has ever been discovered since. Professor Sollas has very justly said, 'Geology has no need to return to the catastrophism of its youth; in becoming evolutional it does not cease to remain essentially uniformitarian[149].'

Alfred Russel Wallace, who has always been as stout a defender of the views of Lyell as he has of those of Darwin, has given me his permission to quote from a letter he wrote me in 1888. After referring to what he regards as the weak and mistaken attacks on Lyell's teachings, 'which have of late years been so general among geologists,' he says:—

'I have always been surprised when men have advanced the view that volcanic action must have been greater when the earth was hotter, and entirely ignore the numerous indications that both subterranean and meteorological forces, even in Palaeozoic times, were of the same order of magnitude as they are now—and this I have always believed is what Lyell's teaching implies.'

I believe that Mr Wallace's expression, adopted from the mathematicians, 'the same order of magnitude,' would have met with Lyell's complete acquiescence. He was not so unwise as to suppose that, in the limited periods of human history, we must necessarily have had experience—even at Krakatoa or 'Skaptar Jokull'—of nature's greatest possible convulsions, but he fought tenaciously against any admission of 'cataclysms' that would belong to a totally different category to those of the present day.

Apart from theological objections, the most formidable obstacle to the reception of evolutionary ideas had always been the prejudice against the admission of vast duration of past geological time. It was unfortunate that, even when rational historical criticism had to a great extent neutralised the effect of Archbishop Usher's chronology, the mathematicians and physicists, assuming certain sources of heat in the earth and sun could have been the only possible ones, tried to set a limit to the time at the disposal of the geologist and biologist. Happily the discovery of radio-activity and the new sources of heat opened up by that discovery, have removed those objections, which were like a nightmare to both Geology and Biology.

Lyell used to relate the story of a man, who, from a condition of dire poverty, suddenly became the possessor of vast wealth, and when remonstrated with by friends on the inadequacy of a subscription he had offered, the poor fellow exclaimed sadly, 'Ah! you don't know how hard it is to get the chill of poverty out of one's bones.'

Geologists and biologists alike have long been the victims of this 'chill of poverty,' with respect to past time. So long as physicists insisted that one hundred millions, or forty millions, or even ten millions of years, must be the limit of geological time, it was not possible to avoid the conclusion stated by Lord Salisbury in 1894, 'Of course, if the mathematicians are right the biologists cannot have what they demand[150].' But now geologists and biologists may alike feel that the liberty with respect to space, which is granted ungrudgingly to the astronomer, is no longer withheld from them in regard to time. We can say with old Lamarck:—

'For Nature, Time is nothing. It is never a difficulty, she always has it at her disposal; and it is for her the means by which she has accomplished the greatest as well as the least results. For all the evolution of the earth and of living beings, Nature needs but three elements—Space, Time and Matter[151].'

Darwin, equally with Lyell, has suffered from a reaction following on extravagant and uninformed praise of his work. The fields in which he laboured single-handed, have yielded to hundreds of workers in many lands an abundant harvest. New doctrines and improved methods of enquiry have arisen—Mutationism, Mendelism, Weismannism, Neo-Lamarckism, Biometrics, Eugenics and what not—are being diligently exploited. But all of these vigorous growths have their real roots in Darwinism. If we study Darwin's correspondence, and the successive essays in which he embodied his views at different periods, we shall find, variation by mutation (or per saltum), the influence of environment, the question of the inheritance of acquired characters and similar problems were constantly present to Darwin's ever open mind, his views upon them changing from time to time, as fresh facts were gathered.

No one could sympathise more fully than would Darwin, were he still with us, in these various departures. He was compelled, from want of evidence, to regard variations as spontaneous, but would have heartily welcomed every attempt to discover the laws which govern them; and equally would he have delighted in researches directed to the investigation of the determining factors, controlling conditions and limits of inheritance. The man who so carefully counted and weighed his seeds in botanical experiments, could not but rejoice in the refined mathematical methods now being applied to biological problems.

Let us not 'in looking at the trees, lose sight of the wood.' Underlying all the problems, some of them very hotly discussed at the present day, there is the great central principle of Natural Selection—which if not the sole factor in evolution, is undoubtedly a very important and potent one. It is only necessary to compare the present position of the Natural History sciences with that which existed immediately before the publication of the Origin of Species, to realise the greatness of Darwin's achievement.

The fame of both Lyell and Darwin will endure, and their names will remain as closely linked as were the two men in their lives, the two devoted friends, whose remains found a meet resting-place, almost side by side, in the Abbey of Westminster. Very touching indeed was it to witness the marks of affection between these two great men; an affection which remained undiminished to the end. Lyell was twelve years senior to Darwin, and died seven years before his friend. During the last year of Lyell's life, I spent the summer with him at his home in Forfarshire. How well do I recollect the keenness with which—in spite of a near-sightedness that had increased with age almost to blindness—he still devoted himself to geological work. The 264 note-books, all carefully indexed, were in constant use, and visits were made to all the haunts of his youth, with the frequent pathetic appeal to me, 'You must lend me your eyes.' In spite of age and weakness, he would insist on clambering up the steepest hills to show me where he had found glacial markings, and would eagerly listen to my report on them. But the great delight of those days was the arrival of a letter from Darwin! Lyell was the recipient of many honours, and he declined many more, when he feared that they might interfere with the work to which he had devoted his life, but the distinction he prized most of all was that conferred on him by his life-long friend, who used to address him as 'My dear old Master,' and subscribe himself 'Your affectionate pupil.'

During the seven years that elapsed after the death of Lyell, I saw Darwin from time to time, for he loved to hear 'what was doing' in his 'favourite science.' On board the Beagle, before he had met the man whose life and work were to be so closely linked with his own, he was in the habit of specially treasuring up any 'facts that would interest Mr Lyell'; in middle life he declared that 'when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes[152]'; and never, I think, did we meet after the friend was gone, without the oft repeated query, 'What would Lyell have said to that?'

These reminiscences of the past, in which I have ventured to indulge, may not inappropriately conclude with a reference to the last interview I was privileged to have with him, who was 'the noblest Roman of them all!' On the occasion of his last visit to London, in December, 1881, Charles Darwin wrote asking me to take lunch with him at his daughter's house, and to have 'a little talk' on geology. Greatly was I surprised at the vigour which he showed on that afternoon, for, contrary to his usual practice, he did not interrupt the conversation to retire and rest for a time, though I suggested the desirability of his doing so, and offered to stay. His brightness and animation, which were perhaps a little forced, struck me as so unusual that I laughingly suggested that he was 'renewing his youth.' Then a slight shade passed over his countenance—but only for a moment—as he told me that he had 'received his warning.' The attack, to which his son has alluded, as being the prelude to the end[153], had occurred during this visit to town; and he intimated to me that he knew his heart was seriously affected. Never shall I forget how, seeing my concern, he insisted on accompanying me to the door, and how, with the ever kindly smile on his countenance, he held my hand in a prolonged grasp, that I sadly felt might perhaps be the last. And so it proved.

And now all the world is united in the conviction which Darwin so modestly expressed concerning his own career, 'I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting myself to science!'

For has not that devotion resulted in a complete reform of the Natural-History Sciences! The doctrine of the 'immutability of species'—like that of 'Catastrophism' in the inorganic world—has been eliminated from the Biological sciences by Darwin, through his steadily following the clues found by him during his South American travels; and continuity is now as much the accepted creed of botanists and zoologists as it is of geologists. As a result of the labours of Darwin, new lines of thought have been opened out, fresh fields of investigation discovered, and the infinite variety among living things has acquired a grander aspect and a special significance. Very justly, then, has Darwin been universally acclaimed as 'the Newton of Natural History.'



NOTES

In the following references, L.L.L. indicates the "Life and Letters of Sir Charles Lyell" by Mrs K. Lyell (1881), D.L.L. the "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" by F. Darwin (1887), M.L.D. "More Letters of Charles Darwin" edited by F. Darwin and A. C. Seward (1903), and H.C.E. Huxley's "Collected Essays."

[1] The Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), p. 10.

[2] Darwin and Modern Science (1909), pp. 152-170.

[3] Pope, Essay on Man, Ep. I. lines 111-2.

[4] Genesis, Chap. XXX. verses 31-43.

[5] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1900 (Bradford), pp. 916-920.

[6] Ibid. 1909 (Winnipeg), pp. 491-493.

[7] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 468.

[8] Origin of Species, Chap. XV. end.

[9] Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk. VII. lines 454-466.

[10] Edinb. Rev. LXIX. (July 1839), pp. 446-465.

[11] Principles of Geology, Vol. I. (1830), p. 61.

[12] Zittel, Hist. of Geol. &c. Eng. transl. p. 72.

[13] Quart. Rev. Vol. XLVIII. (March 1832), p. 126.

[14] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1866 (Nottingham).

[15] H.C.E. Vol. VIII. p. 315.

[16] Ibid. p. 190.

[17] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 179-204.

[18] H.C.E. Vol. V. p. 101.

[19] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 190.

[20] Edinb. Rev. Vol. LXIX. (July 1839), p. 455 note.

[21] 'Theory of the Earth,' Vol. II. p. 67.

[22] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 272.

[23] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1833 (Cambridge), pp. 365-414.

[24] Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, p. xliv.

[25] Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, p. iii.

[26] Edinb. Rev. LXIX. (July 1839), p. 455 note.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Zittel, Hist. of Geol. &c. Eng. transl. p. 141.

[29] Considerations on Volcanoes, &c. (1825), pp. iv-vi.

[30] Volcanoes of Central France, 2nd Ed. (1858), p. vii.

[31] See Quart. Rev. Vol. XXXVI. (Oct. 1827), pp. 437-485.

[32] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 46.

[33] Principles of Geology, Vol. II. 2nd Ed.

[34] L.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 47-8.

[35] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 268.

[36] Environs de Paris (1811), p. 56.

[37] Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd Ser. Vol. II. pp. 73-96.

[38] See Mantell's Geology of the Isle of Wight and L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 114-122.

[39] Hist. of Geol. &c. Eng. transl. p. 188.

[40] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 173.

[41] British Critic and Theological Review (1830), p. 7 of the review.

[42] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 177.

[43] Preface to Vol. III. of the 'Principles' (1833), p. vii.

[44] L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 233-4.

[45] Charles Lyell and Modern Geology (1898), p. 214.

[46] Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. I. p. 374.

[47] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 196.

[48] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 197.

[49] Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. I. pp. 145-9.

[50] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 253.

[51] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 234.

[52] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 271.

[53] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 270.

[54] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 271.

[55] Quart. Rev. Vol. XLIII. (Oct. 1830), pp. 411-469 and Vol. LIII. (Sept. 1835), pp. 406-448. Both these reviews are by Scrope. The Review of the 2nd Vol. of the 'Principles,' Q.R. Vol. XLVII. (March 1832), pp. 103-132 is by Whewell.

[56] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 270.

[57] Ibid. Vol. I. pp. 260-1.

[58] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 314.

[59] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 165.

[60] M.L.D. Vol. II. p. 232 and D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 190.

[61] L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 316-7.

[62] Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. I. pp. 302-3.

[63] L.L.L. Vol. II. p. 41.

[64] See also D.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 72-3.

[65] Nineteenth Century, Oct. 1895, and Controverted Questions in Geology (1895), pp. 1-18.

[66] M.L.D. Vol. II. p. 117.

[67] D.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 337-8 and p. 342.

[68] Origin of Species, Chap. X. See also Darwin and Modern Science, pp. 337-385.

[69] D.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 341-2.

[70] L.L.L. Vol. II. p. 44.

[71] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 296.

[72] Ibid. p. 72.

[73] Ibid. p. 71.

[74] A. R. Wallace, 'My Life, &c.' (1905), Vol. I. p. 433.

[75] The Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), p. 118.

[76] L.L.L. Vol. II. p. 459.

[77] Report of lecture at Forrester's Hall.

[78] H.C.E. Vol. VIII. p. 312.

[79] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 190.

[80] L.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 2, 3.

[81] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 36.

[82] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 5.

[83] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 94.

[84] L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 417-8.

[85] H. F. Osborn, 'From the Greeks to Darwin' (1894), p. 165.

[86] Loc. cit. pp. 467-469.

[87] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 168.

[88] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 365.

[89] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 23, 29, 39.

[90] Ibid. Vol. III. p. 15 (see also pp. 11-14).

[91] 'Origin of Species,' 6th Ed. (1875), p. xiv.

[92] 'Darwin and Modern Science,' p. 125.

[93] 'Origin of Species,' 6th Ed. (1875), pp. xvi, xvii.

[94] M.L.D. Vol. I. p. 3.

[95] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 41.

[96] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 41.

[97] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 52.

[98] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 58.

[99] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 58.

[100] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 271.

[101] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 73.

[102] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 263.

[103] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 38.

[104] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 20.

[105] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 275.

[106] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 83.

[107] Ibid. Vol. II. pp. 5-10.

[108] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 71.

[109] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 47.

[110] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 84.

[111] Macmillan's Magazine, Feb. 1888, p. 241.

[112] My Life, &c. Vol. I. p. 355.

[113] Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), pp. 6-7.

[114] Ibid. pp. 14-16.

[115] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 116-7.

[116] 'Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection' (1871), Preface, pp. iv, v.

[117] Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), p. 7.

[118] Ibid. p. 7.

[119] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 66.

[120] Ibid. Vol. I. pp. 62-3.

[121] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 66.

[122] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 66.

[123] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 83.

[124] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 84.

[125] 'The Foundations of the Origin of Species' (1909), p. xv.

[126] Letter to A. R. Wallace, Christ's Coll. Mag. Vol. XXIII. (1909), p. 229.

[127] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 16-18.

[128] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 347.

[129] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 19-21.

[130] Huxley's Life and Letters (1900), Vol. I. p. 94.

[131] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 83.

[132] Science Progress, Vol. III. (1908), pp. 537-542.

[133] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 160.

[134] H.C.E. Vol. II. pp. 227-243.

[135] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 179-204.

[136] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 255.

[137] The Review is republished in H.C.E. Vol. II. pp. 1-21.

[138] Huxley's Life and Letters, Vol. I. pp. 179-189.

[139] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 185.

[140] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 93.

[141] See Haeckel's 'History of Creation.'

[142] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 71.

[143] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 72.

[144] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 98; Vol. III. pp. 217-218.

[145] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 247.

[146] Quart. Rev. XLIII. pp. 464-467 and Vol. LIII. pp. 446-448.

[147] H.C.E. Vol. VIII. p. 315.

[148] H.C.E. Vol. V. p. 99.

[149] The Age of the Earth and other Geological Studies, p. 322.

[150] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1894 (Oxford), p. 13.

[151] 'Hydrogeologie,' p. 67.

[152] M.L.D. Vol. II. p. 117.

[153] D.L.L. Vol. III. p. 356.



INDEX

Adaptation, in relation to divergence of species, Darwin's recognition of, 108, 109

Agriculturalists, ideas of creation, 5, 6

ARNOLD, MATTHEW, on Lucretius and Darwin, 3, 4

Auvergne, N. Desmarest on, 17; Scrope on, 35; visited by Lyell and Murchison, 56, 57; their memoir on, 58

'Beagle,' H.M.S., Darwin's voyage in, 98, 99; narrative of, 106

BONNEY, T. G., estimate of amount of Lyell's travels by, 56, 57

Botanical works of Darwin, 141

British Critic, Whewell's review of Lyell in, 53

BRODERIP, W. J., aid given to Lyell by, 65; Vol. II. of Principles dedicated to, 65

BROWN, ROBERT, assistance to Lyell by, 47

BUCKLAND, Dr, on infant Geological Society, 26; champion of 'Catastrophism' in England, 27; his eccentricity, 42-44; 'Equestrian Geology' of, 28; influence on Lyell, 34, 44; 2nd edition of Vol. I. of Principles dedicated to, 44; his opposition to Lyell, 71

Cambridge, Darwin at, 97, 98

CANDOLLE, A. P. DE, on struggle for existence, 107

Catastrophism, origin of idea of, 14, 15; defined, 22; origin of term, 22; connexion with orthodoxy, 21; championed by Buckland, Sedgwick &c., 27; by Cuvier, 31, 50, 102; opposition by Lyell and Darwin to, 105

Centres of Creation, Lyell's views on, 65

CHAMBERS, ROBERT, publishes Vestiges of Creation, 92; his reasons for anonymity, 93

Chemists, part played in early days of Geological Society by, 26

Christ's College, Cambridge, the home of Milton and Darwin, 13; of Paley, 108

CLODD, E., his Pioneers of Evolution, 16

Continuity, term for Evolution suggested by Grove, 23

CONYBEARE, W. D., advocacy of Catastrophism, 27; criticism of Hutton, 28; misconception of Hutton, 29; on formation of Thames Valley, 58; friendship with Lyell, 69

Creation, legends of, 5-7; use of term by Lyell and Darwin, 11; contrast of their views with those of Milton, 12, 13

Criticisms of the Principles of Geology, 68, 69, 70, 71; of the Origin of Species, 132-139

CUVIER, his strong support of Catastrophism, 31, 46, 50, 102

DARWIN, CHARLES, nobility of character, 3; his use of term 'Creation,' 11; on grandeur of idea of Evolution, 12; his devotion to Lyell and the Principles of Geology, 63, 73-75, 78; his horror of slavery, 76; opposition to Catastrophism, 77; opinion of Lamarck's works, 90, 91: on the Vestiges of Creation, 94; his dislike for speculation, 101; his optimism and courage, 77; his birth and education, 95, 96; life at Edinburgh, 97; at Cambridge, 97, 98; voyage in the 'Beagle,' 99, 100; first awakening to the idea of Evolution, 102, 104; work with Lyell at Geological Society, 105; begins 'species work,' 106; influence of Malthus's work on, 107; intercourse with Wallace, 113; action in respect to theory, 128, 129; his first literary ambitions, 116; difficulties of work caused by ill-health, 117, 118, 119; his loss of appreciation for music and literature, and its cause, 134, 135; later writings on Evolution, 141, 144; his declining years, 147, 158, 159; his death, 147; present position of his theory of Natural Selection, 155, 156, 159

DARWIN, ERASMUS, his independent conception of Lamarckism, 91, 92; absence of influence on his grandson, 95, 101

DARWIN, ERASMUS (the younger), advice given to Charles on publication, 122

DARWIN, FRANCIS, edited Life and Letters &c., 121; extracts from C.D.'s note-books &c., and Foundations of the Origin of Species, 123; on his father's health, 118

DARWIN, Mrs, her care of her husband's health, 118; read proofs of Origin of Species, 132

DAUBENY, C. G. B., assists Lyell in his researches, 47

DE LA BECHE, H., his attitude with respect to evolution, 71

DESHAYES, G. B., assists Lyell in conchological work, 66

DESMAREST, N., work in Auvergne, 17; evolutionary views of, 17, 20

Earthworms, Darwin's work on, 147

Edinburgh, Darwin's life at, 97; Wernerian Society at, founded by Jameson, 21, 25

Egypt, idea of inorganic evolution originated in, 15

Entomology, influence of, on Lyell, 42, 57; on Darwin, 96; on Wallace, 110

'Equestrian Geology,' popularity of, at Oxford, 27; at Cambridge, 28

Evolution, in organic and inorganic world, 14; how ideas originated, 15-16, 82, 83; revolution effected by, 1, 32, 159; causes of opposition to, 20, 21, 155; opposition of Sedgwick and Whewell, 83; support of Herschel, 83

Euclid, influence on Darwin, 108

FARADAY, M., assistance given to Lyell by, 47

FITTON, Dr, on supposed indebtedness of Hutton to Generelli, 18; and of Lyell to Hutton, 18; on causes of Hutton's failure to reform geology, 23, 25; his attitude towards Lyell's views, 30, 71

Fluvialists, 58

FORBES, DAVID, intercourse with Darwin, 119

Fossil bones, discovery of, in South America first suggests to Darwin mutability of species, 102

Foundations of the Origin of Species, 123

FRAZER, J. G., on legends of creation, 5, 7

Galapagos Islands, influence of study of fauna on Darwin, 104

GENERELLI, advocacy of Evolution, 17, 20

Geographical distribution, Lyell on, 65; Wallace on, 146

Geological Society, foundation of, 25; early history, 26; connexion of Lyell with, 44, 71: of Darwin, 100, 105: of Scrope, 50; discussions on rival doctrines at, 24, 25, 29, 30, 60, 76, 77, 105

Geology, Darwin's interest in, 96, 99, 124, 147, 158

GIBBON, his influence on Lyell, 52, 67

GREENOUGH, G. B., founds Geological Society and first President, 26; his strong support of Wernerism, 26, 29

GROVE, R., suggests term 'Continuity,' 23

GUENTHER, Dr, his estimate of number of species of animals, 10

HAECKEL, E., credits Lyell with early conviction of Evolution, 84

HENSLOW, J. S., friendship for and help of Darwin, 97, 98, 99; opposition to Evolution, 27, 72

Heredity, early recognition of importance, 9

HERSCHEL, J., belief in Evolution, 12, 71; correspondence with Lyell, 12, 83, 85

HOFF, C. VON, influence of his works on Lyell, 49

HOOKER, J. D., friendship with Lyell's father, 126; voyage to Antarctic with Ross, 126; introduction to Darwin, 126; correspondence with, 127; assistance to Darwin, 126; advice to, 129; on origin of Australian flora, 139; friendship with Lyell, 79, 126

HUTTON, his Theory of the Earth, 17, 18, 19, 20; rarity of the book, 30; small influence of, 21; supposed infidelity and persecution of, 21, 22, 25, 69; Lyell's mistaken views on, 54; difference of his theory from Lyell's, 53

HUXLEY, T. H., early views on distinction of Uniformitarianism and Evolution, 23; later view of identity, 23, 24; influence of Darwin on, 24, 127, 144; on 1st edition of Principles, 67, 80, 81; argues for Lyell's belief in Evolution, 84; reviews Origin of Species, 136, 137; reply to Bishop of Oxford, 138; defence of Darwinism, 140; on Darwin's death, 147, 148; on Lyell's death, 80

Hybridity, Lyell's discussion on, 65, 103

Hypotheses of Creation, twofold character of, 5-8

Ideas v. Actions, Wallace on, 4

Independent discovery of Natural Selection by Wallace, 113; Darwin's letter on, 113

Italian geologists, their anticipation of evolutionary ideas, 17

JACOB, his frauds based on ideas of heredity and variation, 9

JAMESON, R., founds Wernerian Society 1807, 25; influence on Darwin, 97

Journal of Researches, by Darwin, 106; dedicated to Lyell, 72

King's College, London, Lyell professor at, 65, 66

Kinnordy, Lyell at, 42, 43, 46

KIRWAN, DE LUC, and WILLIAMS, opposition to Hutton, 25

LAMARCK, his Hydrogeologie, 87; Philosophie Zoologique, 88; Lyell's admiration of, 64, 89; criticism of theory, 64, 90; views of Darwin on, 90, 91; on geological time, 155

Lectures by Lyell, 65, 66

Linnean Society, papers of Darwin and Wallace at, 112, 129, 130

Literature, Lyell and, 52, 67; Darwin and, 116, 117, 120; his loss of interest in, 134, 135

LOCKHART and Quarterly Review, 60

LUCRETIUS, belief in Evolution, 3, 4

LYELL, CHARLES, use of term 'Creation,' 11; on grandeur of idea of Evolution, 12; birth and ancestry, 41; education, 34, 42; influence of Buckland on, 34, 42-44; on Cuvier, 46; change of views not due to Hutton's works, 45; but to travel and observation, 45; in East Anglia, 45; in Strathmore, 46, 47; abandons career as barrister for geology, 48; work with Dr Mantell, 48; visits to Continent, 48; influence of von Hoff's works, 49; of Scrope, 50; his remarks on Hutton's supposed heresies, 51, 54; influence of Gibbon on his literary style, 52; praise of Hutton and Playfair at later date, 53; review of Scrope's book on Auvergne, 56; visit to Auvergne with Murchison, 56; advocacy of travel for geologists, 56; journeys in Italy, 58; Lyell on Murchison, 57; Murchison on Lyell, 58; Lyell's avoidance of controversy, 63; differences of opinion with Scrope, 62, 63; attention to literary style, 65; professorship at King's College, London, 65, 69; lectures, 66; controversies at Geological Society, 71; aid of Darwin in discussions, 71; his friendship with Darwin, 73, 104, 105; his extreme caution, 75-77; candour in finally accepting Natural Selection, 77; opposition to his views, 83, 84; his belief in Evolution at an early date, 81, 84-86; his anticipation of 'Mimicry,' 85, 86; his action in Darwin-Wallace episode, 113, 129; induces Darwin to commence writing his work, 128; his attitude towards theory of Natural Selection, 139, 140, 145; great influence of Lyell's works on Darwin and Evolution, 150; misrepresentation of his views, 152-154; his declining years, 157; last hours, 80; Hooker's tribute to his memory, 79, 80

LYELL, CHARLES (the elder), botanist and student of Dante, 41; intercourse with the Hookers, 126

MALTHUS, On Population, influence of work on Darwin, 107; on Wallace, 112

Man, descent of, Darwin's work on, 142, 144; Wallace's views on, 144

MANTELL, Lyell's researches with, 48; correspondence with, 55, 89

MATTHEW, P., anticipation of theory of Natural Selection, 92

MILTON, description of creation, 13; Darwin's early love of his poetry, 134; at Christ's College, Cambridge, 13

Mimicry, doctrine of, Lyell's early recognition of importance, 85, 86

Modern Science, Darwin and, 148

MURCHISON, accompanies Lyell to Auvergne, 56; opinion of Lyell, 57; Lyell's opinion of, 57, 58; 3rd Vol. of Principles dedicated to, 66; correspondence with, 59

MURRAY, JOHN, and Quarterly Review, 60; publishes Lyell's works, 60; publishes Darwin's works, 130; his reminiscences of Darwin, 132

Music, Darwin's loss of power to appreciate, and its cause, 134, 135

Natural Selection, theory of, defined by Huxley, 106; forestalled by Wells, Matthew &c., 18, 19; first conception of by Darwin, 107; by Wallace, 112

'Neptunism' or 'Wernerism' and Catastrophism, 18

NEWTON, Professor A., on vague hopes of solution of 'species question' before Darwin, 94, 109

Origin of Species, first idea of, 121; plan proposed to follow Principles, 123; first sketch of 1842, enlarged draft of 1844, commencement of great treatise on Evolution in 1856, interruption by arrival of Wallace's papers, 128, 129; the 'Abstract' or Origin of Species commenced, 130; finished, 131; reception of, 132-139; influence of, 1, 159

OSBORN, H. F., his From the Greeks to Darwin, 16; on Lamarck, 87

PALEY, his influence on Darwin, 108

PHILLIPS, JOHN, his attitude towards Lyell's views, 30, 71

Philosophers, on Evolution, 16, 82

PLAYFAIR, JOHN, his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, 29; explains the causes of Hutton's failure, 30

'Plutonism,' 'Vulcanism,' or 'Huttonism,' 18

Poets and Evolution, 16

PRESTWICH, Sir J., opposition to Lyell's views, 72

PREVOST, CONSTANT, aid to Lyell, 50; opposition to Cuvier, 50

PRIESTLEY, persecution of, 21, 69

Principles of Geology, first idea of, 55; early draft sent to publisher in 1827, 56; withdrawn and rewritten in 1830, 56; issue of first volume, 63; success, 64; review by Scrope, 60-62; decision to confine Vol. II. to Organic Evolution, 65; 3rd volume, classification of Tertiaries and Metamorphic theory, 66; later editions, 66; Elements, Manual and Student's elements, 67; success of work, 67; Darwin's opinion on, 67; of Huxley, 67, 80, 81; Wallace on, 79; criticisms of, 68, 69, 70, 71

PYTHAGORAS, his evolutionary ideas, 16

Quarterly Review, articles by Lyell, 56, 89; by Scrope, 60, 62

Reviews, of the Principles by Scrope, 56, 89; by Whewell, 22, 53; of the Origin by Huxley, 136, 137

SCROPE, G. POULETT, education, 34; travels, 34; work in Auvergne, 35; in Italy, 35; delay in publishing, 35; work on volcanoes, 36; his just views on Evolution, 37-39; cause of want of recognition of his work, 39, 40; devotion to politics, 40; reviews of Principles, 41, 61; correspondence with and influence on Lyell, 50, 61; his differences of opinion from Lyell, 62, 63, 151; effects of his review, 64

SEDGWICK, A., advocates Catastrophism, 27, 28; opposition to Hutton, influence on Scrope, 34; on Darwin, 98; opposition to Lyell, 83; weakening of opposition to, 58; on Principles, 70, 71; dislike to Evolution, 83

SHIPLEY, A. E., estimate of number of species of animals, 10

Slavery, views of Lyell and Darwin, 76

SMITH, W., influence of his teaching on Geological Society, 27

SOLLAS, W. J., on Evolution and Uniformitarianism, 152, 153

Species, origin of idea of, 9; number of species of animals, 10; of plants, 11

Struggle for existence, Lyell on, 103, 107; de Candolle on, 107

Theory of the Earth, Hutton's, 17; Scrope's, 36

THOMPSON, G. P., see Scrope, 33

Time geological, Lyell on, 154; Lamarck on, 155

TOLLET, Miss G., aids Darwin in revising Origin of Species, 132

Uniformitarianism, origin of the term, 14, 15, 22

Uniformity (or Continuity), Lyell's real views on, 62, 63; misconceptions of his views on, 151, 152, 155

University of London, Lyell's connexion with, 59, 65

Variation, early recognition of its importance, 9; Lyell's discussion of, 64, 103; Darwin's work on, 141

Vestiges of Creation, influence of, 93; Darwin on, 94; Wallace on, 110

VINES, S. H., estimate of number of species of plants, 10

Volcanoes, Scrope on, 36

Vulcanism, see Plutonism &c., 18

WALLACE, ALFRED RUSSEL, on ideas and actions, 4; his early life, 110; in South America, 110; in Malay Archipelago, 110; influence of Principles on, 79, 110; speculations at Sarawak, 111; influence of Malthus on, 112; conception of idea of Natural Selection, 111, 112; ignorance of Darwin's views, 112; statement on his relation to Darwin, 113, 114; his magnanimity, 114; on geographical distribution of animals, 146; his defence of Lyell's principle of Uniformity, 153

WELLS, Dr, his anticipation of theory of Natural Selection, 92

WERNER, success of his teachings, 21, 26, 27; his influence on early geologists, 26

Wernerian Society, founded, 1807, by Jameson, 21, 25

Wernerism, 18

WHEWELL, Dr, contrast of doctrines of Hutton and Lyell, 22, 53; originates terms 'Catastrophism,' 'Uniformitarianism,' 22; and 'Geological Dynamics,' 70; reviews Principles, 53; opposition to Evolution, 83

World, small part known to ancients, 9

Worms, Darwin's work on, 147

ZITTEL, K. VON, on Hutton's work, 19; on von Hoff and Lyell, 50

Zoonomia of Erasmus Darwin, 101



Cambridge:

PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS



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Transcribers' note:

General: Inconsistent capitalisation of Von in Von Hoff as in original General: No period (full stop) after Mr, Mrs, Dr as in original Page 24: ) added after 'uniformitarianism' to create matching pair Pages 33, 171: Inconsistent spelling of Thomson/Thompson as in original. Page 59: Missing anchor [50] added after dogmatise as this seemed the most likely place Page 80: " changed to ' after [76] to create matching pair Page 89: his changed to His in his theories delighted me Page 94: eniment corrected to eminent Page 102: re-stocked standardised to restocked Page 111: . added after September 1855 Page 149: . added after plants and animals Page 157: lifelong standardised to life-long Page 167: Wernerianism standardised to Wernerism; index entry for Herschel, J., correspondence with Lyell corrected from non-existent page 183 to page 12

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