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diff --git a/2089.txt b/2089.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dac32ee --- /dev/null +++ b/2089.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1292 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reception of the 'Origin of Species', by +Thomas Henry Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Reception of the 'Origin of Species' + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Posting Date: October 26, 2008 [EBook #2089] +Release Date: February, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECEPTION OF 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES' *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +ON THE RECEPTION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES' + + +by + +PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + + + +FROM THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN + +EDITED BY FRANCIS DARWIN + + + +ON THE RECEPTION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' + +To the present generation, that is to say, the people a few years on +the hither and thither side of thirty, the name of Charles Darwin +stands alongside of those of Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday; and, +like them, calls up the grand ideal of a searcher after truth and +interpreter of Nature. They think of him who bore it as a rare +combination of genius, industry, and unswerving veracity, who earned +his place among the most famous men of the age by sheer native power, +in the teeth of a gale of popular prejudice, and uncheered by a sign of +favour or appreciation from the official fountains of honour; as one +who in spite of an acute sensitiveness to praise and blame, and +notwithstanding provocations which might have excused any outbreak, +kept himself clear of all envy, hatred, and malice, nor dealt otherwise +than fairly and justly with the unfairness and injustice which was +showered upon him; while, to the end of his days, he was ready to +listen with patience and respect to the most insignificant of +reasonable objectors. + +And with respect to that theory of the origin of the forms of life +peopling our globe, with which Darwin's name is bound up as closely as +that of Newton with the theory of gravitation, nothing seems to be +further from the mind of the present generation than any attempt to +smother it with ridicule or to crush it by vehemence of denunciation. +"The struggle for existence," and "Natural selection," have become +household words and every-day conceptions. The reality and the +importance of the natural processes on which Darwin founds his +deductions are no more doubted than those of growth and multiplication; +and, whether the full potency attributed to them is admitted or not, no +one doubts their vast and far-reaching significance. Wherever the +biological sciences are studied, the 'Origin of Species' lights the +paths of the investigator; wherever they are taught it permeates the +course of instruction. Nor has the influence of Darwinian ideas been +less profound, beyond the realms of Biology. The oldest of all +philosophies, that of Evolution, was bound hand and foot and cast into +utter darkness during the millennium of theological scholasticism. But +Darwin poured new life-blood into the ancient frame; the bonds burst, +and the revivified thought of ancient Greece has proved itself to be a +more adequate expression of the universal order of things than any of +the schemes which have been accepted by the credulity and welcomed by +the superstition of seventy later generations of men. + +To any one who studies the signs of the times, the emergence of the +philosophy of Evolution, in the attitude of claimant to the throne of +the world of thought, from the limbo of hated and, as many hoped, +forgotten things, is the most portentous event of the nineteenth +century. But the most effective weapons of the modern champions of +Evolution were fabricated by Darwin; and the 'Origin of Species' has +enlisted a formidable body of combatants, trained in the severe school +of Physical Science, whose ears might have long remained deaf to the +speculations of a priori philosophers. + +I do not think any candid or instructed person will deny the truth of +that which has just been asserted. He may hate the very name of +Evolution, and may deny its pretensions as vehemently as a Jacobite +denied those of George the Second. But there it is--not only as +solidly seated as the Hanoverian dynasty, but happily independent of +Parliamentary sanction--and the dullest antagonists have come to see +that they have to deal with an adversary whose bones are to be broken +by no amount of bad words. + +Even the theologians have almost ceased to pit the plain meaning of +Genesis against the no less plain meaning of Nature. Their more +candid, or more cautious, representatives have given up dealing with +Evolution as if it were a damnable heresy, and have taken refuge in one +of two courses. Either they deny that Genesis was meant to teach +scientific truth, and thus save the veracity of the record at the +expense of its authority; or they expend their energies in devising the +cruel ingenuities of the reconciler, and torture texts in the vain hope +of making them confess the creed of Science. But when the peine forte +et dure is over, the antique sincerity of the venerable sufferer always +reasserts itself. Genesis is honest to the core, and professes to be +no more than it is, a repository of venerable traditions of unknown +origin, claiming no scientific authority and possessing none. + +As my pen finishes these passages, I can but be amused to think what a +terrible hubbub would have been made (in truth was made) about any +similar expressions of opinion a quarter of a century ago. In fact, +the contrast between the present condition of public opinion upon the +Darwinian question; between the estimation in which Darwin's views are +now held in the scientific world; between the acquiescence, or at least +quiescence, of the theologians of the self-respecting order at the +present day and the outburst of antagonism on all sides in 1858-9, when +the new theory respecting the origin of species first became known to +the older generation to which I belong, is so startling that, except +for documentary evidence, I should be sometimes inclined to think my +memories dreams. I have a great respect for the younger generation +myself (they can write our lives, and ravel out all our follies, if +they choose to take the trouble, by and by), and I should be glad to be +assured that the feeling is reciprocal; but I am afraid that the story +of our dealings with Darwin may prove a great hindrance to that +veneration for our wisdom which I should like them to display. We have +not even the excuse that, thirty years ago, Mr. Darwin was an obscure +novice, who had no claims on our attention. On the contrary, his +remarkable zoological and geological investigations had long given him +an assured position among the most eminent and original investigators +of the day; while his charming 'Voyage of a Naturalist' had justly +earned him a wide-spread reputation among the general public. I doubt +if there was any man then living who had a better right to expect that +anything he might choose to say on such a question as the Origin of +Species would be listened to with profound attention, and discussed +with respect; and there was certainly no man whose personal character +should have afforded a better safeguard against attacks, instinct with +malignity and spiced with shameless impertinences. + +Yet such was the portion of one of the kindest and truest men that it +was ever my good fortune to know; and years had to pass away before +misrepresentation, ridicule, and denunciation, ceased to be the most +notable constituents of the majority of the multitudinous criticisms of +his work which poured from the press. I am loth to rake any of these +ancient scandals from their well-deserved oblivion; but I must make +good a statement which may seem overcharged to the present generation, +and there is no piece justificative more apt for the purpose, or more +worthy of such dishonour, than the article in the 'Quarterly Review' +for July, 1860. (I was not aware when I wrote these passages that the +authorship of the article had been publicly acknowledged. Confession +unaccompanied by penitence, however, affords no ground for mitigation +of judgment; and the kindliness with which Mr. Darwin speaks of his +assailant, Bishop Wilberforce (vol. ii.), is so striking an +exemplification of his singular gentleness and modesty, that it rather +increases one's indignation against the presumption of his critic.) +Since Lord Brougham assailed Dr. Young, the world has seen no such +specimen of the insolence of a shallow pretender to a Master in Science +as this remarkable production, in which one of the most exact of +observers, most cautious of reasoners, and most candid of expositors, +of this or any other age, is held up to scorn as a "flighty" person, +who endeavours "to prop up his utterly rotten fabric of guess and +speculation," and whose "mode of dealing with nature" is reprobated as +"utterly dishonourable to Natural Science." And all this high and +mighty talk, which would have been indecent in one of Mr. Darwin's +equals, proceeds from a writer whose want of intelligence, or of +conscience, or of both, is so great, that, by way of an objection to +Mr. Darwin's views, he can ask, "Is it credible that all favourable +varieties of turnips are tending to become men;" who is so ignorant of +paleontology, that he can talk of the "flowers and fruits" of the +plants of the carboniferous epoch; of comparative anatomy, that he can +gravely affirm the poison apparatus of the venomous snakes to be +"entirely separate from the ordinary laws of animal life, and peculiar +to themselves;" of the rudiments of physiology, that he can ask, "what +advantage of life could alter the shape of the corpuscles into which +the blood can be evaporated?" Nor does the reviewer fail to flavour +this outpouring of preposterous incapacity with a little stimulation of +the odium theologicum. Some inkling of the history of the conflicts +between Astronomy, Geology, and Theology, leads him to keep a retreat +open by the proviso that he cannot "consent to test the truth of +Natural Science by the word of Revelation;" but, for all that, he +devotes pages to the exposition of his conviction that Mr. Darwin's +theory "contradicts the revealed relation of the creation to its +Creator," and is "inconsistent with the fulness of his glory." + +If I confine my retrospect of the reception of the 'Origin of Species' +to a twelvemonth, or thereabouts, from the time of its publication, I +do not recollect anything quite so foolish and unmannerly as the +'Quarterly Review' article, unless, perhaps, the address of a Reverend +Professor to the Dublin Geological Society might enter into competition +with it. But a large proportion of Mr. Darwin's critics had a +lamentable resemblance to the 'Quarterly' reviewer, in so far as they +lacked either the will, or the wit, to make themselves masters of his +doctrine; hardly any possessed the knowledge required to follow him +through the immense range of biological and 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 consider 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 ("The arguments presented by +Darwin in favor of a universal derivation from one primary form of all +the peculiarities existing now among living 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 +transmutation theory as a scientific mistake, untrue in its facts, +unscientific in its method, and mischievous in its +tendency."--Silliman's 'Journal,' July, 1860, pages 143, 154. Extract +from the 3rd volume of 'Contributions to the Natural History of the +United States.'); 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. ("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 +concerned, this law may be assumed to explain the origin of closely +allied species, 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 Darwin.' 'Archives des Sc. de la Bibliotheque Universelle de +Geneve,' pages 242, 243, Mars 1860.) On the other hand, Lyell, up to +that time a pillar of the anti-transmutationists (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. As evolutionists, sans phrase, I do not call to mind +among the biologists more than Asa Gray, who fought the battle +splendidly in the United States; Hooker, who was no less vigorous here; +the present Sir John Lubbock and myself. Wallace was far away in the +Malay Archipelago; but, apart from his direct share in the promulgation +of the theory of natural selection, no enumeration of the influences at +work, at the time I am speaking of, would be complete without the +mention of his powerful essay 'On the Law which has regulated the +Introduction of New Species,' which was published in 1855. On reading +it afresh, I have been astonished to recollect how small was the +impression it made. + +In France, the influence of Elie de Beaumont and of Flourens--the +former of whom is said to have "damned himself to everlasting fame" by +inventing the nickname of "la science moussante" for Evolutionism (One +is reminded of the effect of another small academic epigram. The +so-called vertebral theory of the skull is said to have been nipped in +the bud in France by the whisper of an academician to his neighbour, +that, in that case, one's head was a "vertebre pensante."),--to say +nothing of the ill-will of other powerful members of the Institut, +produced for a long time the effect of a conspiracy of silence; and +many years passed before the Academy redeemed itself from the reproach +that the name of Darwin was not to be found on the list of its members. +However, an accomplished writer, out of the range of academical +influences, M. Laugel, gave an excellent and appreciative notice of the +'Origin' in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes.' Germany took time to +consider; Bronn produced a slightly Bowdlerized translation of the +'Origin'; and 'Kladderadatsch' cut his jokes upon the ape origin of +man; but I do not call to mind that any scientific notability declared +himself publicly in 1860. (However, the man who stands next to Darwin +in his influence on modern biologists, K.E. von Baer, wrote to me, in +August 1860, expressing his general assent to evolutionist views. His +phrase, "J'ai enonce les memes idees...que M. Darwin" (volume ii.) is +shown by his subsequent writings to mean no more than this.) None of us +dreamed that, in the course of a few years, the strength (and perhaps I +may add the weakness) of "Darwinismus" would have its most extensive +and most brilliant illustrations in the land of learning. If a +foreigner may presume to speculate on the cause of this curious +interval of silence, I fancy it was that one moiety of the German +biologists were orthodox at any price, and the other moiety as +distinctly heterodox. The latter were evolutionists, a priori, +already, and they must have felt the disgust natural to deductive +philosophers at being offered an inductive and experimental foundation +for a conviction which they had reached by a shorter cut. It is +undoubtedly trying to learn that, though your conclusions may be all +right, your reasons for them are all wrong, or, at any rate, +insufficient. + +On the whole, then, the supporters of Mr. Darwin's views in 1860 were +numerically extremely insignificant. There is not the slightest doubt +that, if a general council of the Church scientific had been held at +that time, we should have been condemned by an overwhelming majority. +And there is as little doubt that, if such a council gathered now, the +decree would be of an exactly contrary nature. It would indicate a +lack of sense, as well as of modesty, to ascribe to the men of that +generation less capacity or less honesty than their successors possess. +What, then, are the causes which led instructed and fair-judging men of +that day to arrive at a judgment so different from that which seems +just and fair to those who follow them? That is really one of the most +interesting of all questions connected with the history of science, and +I shall try to answer it. I am afraid that in order to do so I must +run the risk of appearing egotistical. However, if I tell my own story +it is only because I know it better than that of other people. + +I think I must have read the 'Vestiges' before I left England in 1846; +but, if I did, the book made very little impression upon me, and I was +not brought into serious contact with the 'Species' question until +after 1850. At that time, I had long done with the Pentateuchal +cosmogony, which had been impressed upon my childish understanding as +Divine truth, with all the authority of parents and instructors, and +from which it had cost me many a struggle to get free. But my mind was +unbiassed in respect of any doctrine which presented itself, if it +professed to be based on purely philosophical and scientific reasoning. +It seemed to me then (as it does now) that "creation," in the ordinary +sense of the word, is perfectly conceivable. I find no difficulty in +imagining that, at some former period, this universe was not in +existence; and that it made its appearance in six days (or +instantaneously, if that is preferred), in consequence of the volition +of some pre-existent Being. Then, as now, the so-called a priori +arguments against Theism; and, given a Deity, against the possibility +of creative acts, appeared to me to be devoid of reasonable foundation. +I had not then, and I have not now, the smallest a priori objection to +raise to the account of the creation of animals and plants given in +'Paradise Lost,' in which Milton so vividly embodies the natural sense +of Genesis. Far be it from me to say that it is untrue because it is +impossible. I confine myself to what must be regarded as a modest and +reasonable request for some particle of evidence that the existing +species of animals and plants did originate in that way, as a condition +of my belief in a statement which appears to me to be highly improbable. + +And, by way of being perfectly fair, I had exactly the same answer to +give to the evolutionists of 1851-8. Within the ranks of the +biologists, at that time, I met with nobody, except Dr. Grant, of +University College, who had a word to say for Evolution--and his +advocacy was not calculated to advance the cause. Outside these ranks, +the only person known to me whose knowledge and capacity compelled +respect, and who was, at the same time, a thorough-going evolutionist, +was Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose acquaintance I made, I think, in 1852, +and then entered into the bonds of a friendship which, I am happy to +think, has known no interruption. Many and prolonged were the battles +we fought on this topic. But even my friend's rare dialectic skill and +copiousness of apt illustration could not drive me from my agnostic +position. I took my stand upon two grounds: firstly, that up to that +time, the evidence in favour of transmutation was wholly insufficient; +and secondly, that no suggestion respecting the causes of the +transmutation assumed, which had been made, was in any way adequate to +explain the phenomena. Looking back at the state of knowledge at that +time, I really do not see that any other conclusion was justifiable. + +In those days I had never even heard of Treviranus' 'Biologie.' +However, I had studied Lamarck attentively and I had read the +'Vestiges' with due care; but neither of them afforded me any good +ground for changing my negative and critical attitude. As for the +'Vestiges,' I confess that the book simply irritated me by the +prodigious ignorance and thoroughly unscientific habit of mind +manifested by the writer. If it had any influence on me at all, it set +me against Evolution; and the only review I ever have qualms of +conscience about, on the ground of needless savagery, is one I wrote on +the 'Vestiges' while under that influence. + +With respect to the 'Philosophie Zoologique,' it is no reproach to +Lamarck to say that the discussion of the Species question in that +work, whatever might be said for it in 1809, was miserably below the +level of the knowledge of half a century later. In that interval of +time the elucidation of the structure of the lower animals and plants +had given rise to wholly new conceptions of their relations; histology +and embryology, in the modern sense, had been created; physiology had +been reconstituted; the facts of distribution, geological and +geographical, had been prodigiously multiplied and reduced to order. +To any biologist whose studies had carried him beyond mere +species-mongering in 1850, one-half of Lamarck's arguments were +obsolete and the other half erroneous, or defective, in virtue of +omitting to deal with the various classes of evidence which had been +brought to light since his time. Moreover his one suggestion as to the +cause of the gradual modification of species--effort excited by change +of conditions--was, on the face of it, inapplicable to the whole +vegetable world. I do not think that any impartial judge who reads the +'Philosophie Zoologique' now, and who afterwards takes up Lyell's +trenchant and effectual criticism (published as far back as 1830), will +be disposed to allot to Lamarck a much higher place in the +establishment of biological evolution than that which Bacon assigns to +himself in relation to physical science generally,--buccinator tantum. +(Erasmus Darwin first promulgated Lamarck's fundamental conceptions, +and, with greater logical consistency, he had applied them to plants. +But the advocates of his claims have failed to show that he, in any +respect, anticipated the central idea of the 'Origin of Species.') + +But, by a curious irony of fate, the same influence which led me to put +as little faith in modern speculations on this subject, as in the +venerable traditions recorded in the first two chapters of Genesis, was +perhaps more potent than any other in keeping alive a sort of pious +conviction that Evolution, after all, would turn out true. I have +recently read afresh the first edition of the 'Principles of Geology'; +and when I consider that this remarkable book had been nearly thirty +years in everybody's hands, and that it brings home to any reader of +ordinary intelligence a great principle and a great fact--the +principle, that the past must be explained by the present, unless good +cause be shown to the contrary; and the fact, that, so far as our +knowledge of the past history of life on our globe goes, no such cause +can be shown (The same principle and the same fact guide the result +from all sound historical investigation. Grote's 'History of Greece' +is a product of the same intellectual movement as Lyell's +'Principles.')--I cannot but believe that Lyell, for others, as for +myself, was the chief agent for smoothing the road for Darwin. For +consistent uniformitarianism postulates evolution as much in the +organic as in the inorganic world. The origin of a new species by +other than ordinary agencies would be a vastly greater "catastrophe" +than any of those which Lyell successfully eliminated from sober +geological speculation. + +In fact, no one was better aware of this than Lyell himself. (Lyell, +with perfect right, claims this position for himself. He speaks of +having "advocated a law of continuity even in the organic world, so far +as possible without adopting Lamarck's theory of transmutation"... + +"But while I taught that as often as certain forms of animals and +plants disappeared, for reasons quite intelligible to us, others took +their place by virtue of a causation which was beyond our +comprehension; it remained for Darwin to accumulate proof that there is +no break between the incoming and the outgoing species, that they are +the work of evolution, and not of special creation... + +"I had certainly prepared the way in this country, in six editions of +my work before the 'Vestiges of Creation' appeared in 1842 [1844], for +the reception of Darwin's gradual and insensible evolution of +species."--'Life and Letters,' Letter to Haeckel, volume ii. page 436. +November 23, 1868.) If one reads any of the earlier editions of the +'Principles' carefully (especially by the light of the interesting +series of letters recently published by Sir Charles Lyell's +biographer), it is easy to see that, with all his energetic opposition +to Lamarck, on the one hand, and to the ideal quasi-progressionism of +Agassiz, on the other, Lyell, in his own mind, was strongly disposed to +account for the origination of all past and present species of living +things by natural causes. But he would have liked, at the same time, +to keep the name of creation for a natural process which he imagined to +be incomprehensible. + +In a letter addressed to Mantell (dated March 2, 1827), Lyell speaks of +having just read Lamarck; he expresses his delight at Lamarck's +theories, and his personal freedom from any objection based on +theological grounds. And though he is evidently alarmed at the +pithecoid origin of man involved in Lamarck's doctrine, he observes:-- + +"But, after all, what changes species may really undergo! How +impossible will it be to distinguish and lay down a line, beyond which +some of the so-called extinct species have never passed into recent +ones." + +Again, the following remarkable passage occurs in the postscript of a +letter addressed to Sir John Herschel in 1836:-- + +"In regard to the origination of new species, I am very glad to find +that you think it probable that it may be carried on through the +intervention of intermediate causes. I left this rather to be +inferred, not thinking it worth while to offend a certain class of +persons by embodying in words what would only be a speculation." (In +the same sense, see the letter to Whewell, March 7, 1837, volume ii., +page 5:-- + +"In regard to this last subject [the changes from one set of animal and +vegetable species to another]...you remember what Herschel said in his +letter to me. If I had stated as plainly as he has done the +possibility of the introduction or origination of fresh species being a +natural, in contradistinction to a miraculous process, I should have +raised a host of prejudices against me, which are unfortunately opposed +at every step to any philosopher who attempts to address the public on +these mysterious subjects." See also letter to Sedgwick, January 12, +1838 ii. page 35.) He goes on to refer to the criticisms which have +been directed against him on the ground that, by leaving species to be +originated by miracle, he is inconsistent with his own doctrine of +uniformitarianism; and he leaves it to be understood that he had not +replied, on the ground of his general objection to controversy. + +Lyell's contemporaries were not without some inkling of his esoteric +doctrine. Whewell's 'History of the Inductive Sciences,' whatever its +philosophical value, is always worth reading and always interesting, if +under no other aspect than that of an evidence of the speculative +limits within which a highly-placed divine might, at that time, safely +range at will. In the course of his discussion of uniformitarianism, +the encyclopaedic Master of Trinity observes:-- + +"Mr. Lyell, indeed, has spoken of an hypothesis that 'the successive +creation of species may constitute a regular part of the economy of +nature,' but he has nowhere, I think, so described this process as to +make it appear in what department of science we are to place the +hypothesis. Are these new species created by the production, at long +intervals, of an offspring different in species from the parents? Or +are the species so created produced without parents? Are they +gradually evolved from some embryo substance? Or do they suddenly +start from the ground, as in the creation of the poet?... + +"Some selection of one of these forms of the hypothesis, rather than +the others, with evidence for the selection, is requisite to entitle us +to place it among the known causes of change, which in this chapter we +are considering. The bare conviction that a creation of species has +taken place, whether once or many times, so long as it is unconnected +with our organical sciences, is a tenet of Natural Theology rather than +of Physical Philosophy." (Whewell's 'History,' volume iii. page 639-640 +(Edition 2, 1847.)) + +The earlier part of this criticism appears perfectly just and +appropriate; but, from the concluding paragraph, Whewell evidently +imagines that by "creation" Lyell means a preternatural intervention of +the Deity; whereas the letter to Herschel shows that, in his own mind, +Lyell meant natural causation; and I see no reason to doubt (The +following passages in Lyell's letters appear to me decisive on this +point:-- + +To Darwin, October 3, 1859 (ii, 325), on first reading the 'Origin.' + +"I have long seen most clearly that if any concession is made, all that +you claim in your concluding pages will follow. + +"It is this which has made me so long hesitate, always feeling that the +case of Man and his Races, and of other animals, and that of plants, is +one and the same, and that if a vera causa be admitted for one instant, +[instead] of a purely unknown and imaginary one, such as the word +'creation,' all the consequences must follow." + +To Darwin, March 15, 1863 (volume ii. page 365). + +"I remember that it was the conclusion he [Lamarck] came to about man +that fortified me thirty years ago against the great impression which +his arguments at first made on my mind, all the greater because +Constant Prevost, a pupil of Cuvier's forty years ago, told me his +conviction 'that Cuvier thought species not real, but that science +could not advance without assuming that they were so.'" + +To Hooker, March 9, 1863 (volume ii. page 361), in reference to +Darwin's feeling about the 'Antiquity of Man.' + +"He [Darwin] seems much disappointed that I do not go farther with him, +or do not speak out more. I can only say that I have spoken out to the +full extent of my present convictions, and even beyond my state of +FEELING as to man's unbroken descent from the brutes, and I find I am +half converting not a few who were in arms against Darwin, and are even +now against Huxley." He speaks of having had to abandon "old and long +cherished ideas, which constituted the charm to me of the theoretical +part of the science in my earlier day, when I believed with Pascal in +the theory, as Hallam terms it, of 'the arch-angel ruined.'" + +See the same sentiment in the letter to Darwin, March 11, 1863, page +363:-- + +"I think the old 'creation' is almost as much required as ever, but of +course it takes a new form if Lamarck's views improved by yours are +adopted.") that, if Sir Charles could have avoided the inevitable +corollary of the pithecoid origin of man--for which, to the end of his +life, he entertained a profound antipathy--he would have advocated the +efficiency of causes now in operation to bring about the condition of +the organic world, as stoutly as he championed that doctrine in +reference to inorganic nature. + +The fact is, that a discerning eye might have seen that some form or +other of the doctrine of transmutation was inevitable, from the time +when the truth enunciated by William Smith that successive strata are +characterised by different kinds of fossil remains, became a firmly +established law of nature. No one has set forth the speculative +consequences of this generalisation better than the historian of the +'Inductive Sciences':-- + +"But the study of geology opens to us the spectacle of many groups of +species which have, in the course of the earth's history, succeeded +each other at vast intervals of time; one set of animals and plants +disappearing, as it would seem, from the face of our planet, and +others, which did not before exist, becoming the only occupants of the +globe. And the dilemma then presents itself to us anew:--either we +must accept the doctrine of the transmutation of species, and must +suppose that the organized species of one geological epoch were +transmuted into those of another by some long-continued agency of +natural causes; or else, we must believe in many successive acts of +creation and extinction of species, out of the common course of nature; +acts which, therefore, we may properly call miraculous." (Whewell's +'History of the Inductive Sciences.' Edition ii., 1847, volume iii. +pages 624-625. See for the author's verdict, pages 638-39.) + +Dr. Whewell decides in favour of the latter conclusion. And if any one +had plied him with the four questions which he puts to Lyell in the +passage already cited, all that can be said now is that he would +certainly have rejected the first. But would he really have had the +courage to say that a Rhinoceros tichorhinus, for instance, "was +produced without parents;" or was "evolved from some embryo substance;" +or that it suddenly started from the ground like Milton's lion "pawing +to get free his hinder parts." I permit myself to doubt whether even +the Master of Trinity's well-tried courage--physical, intellectual, and +moral--would have been equal to this feat. No doubt the sudden +concurrence of half-a-ton of inorganic molecules into a live rhinoceros +is conceivable, and therefore may be possible. But does such an event +lie sufficiently within the bounds of probability to justify the belief +in its occurrence on the strength of any attainable, or, indeed, +imaginable, evidence? + +In view of the assertion (often repeated in the early days of the +opposition to Darwin) that he had added nothing to Lamarck, it is very +interesting to observe that the possibility of a fifth alternative, in +addition to the four he has stated, has not dawned upon Dr. Whewell's +mind. The suggestion that new species may result from the selective +action of external conditions upon the variations from their specific +type which individuals present--and which we call "spontaneous," +because we are ignorant of their causation--is as wholly unknown to the +historian of scientific ideas as it was to biological specialists +before 1858. But that suggestion is the central idea of the 'Origin of +Species,' and contains the quintessence of Darwinism. + +Thus, looking back into the past, it seems to me that my own position +of critical expectancy was just and reasonable, and must have been +taken up, on the same grounds, by many other persons. If Agassiz told +me that the forms of life which had successively tenanted the globe +were the incarnations of successive thoughts of the Deity; and that he +had wiped out one set of these embodiments by an appalling geological +catastrophe as soon as His ideas took a more advanced shape, I found +myself not only unable to admit the accuracy of the deductions from the +facts of paleontology, upon which this astounding hypothesis was +founded, but I had to confess my want of any means of testing the +correctness of his explanation of them. And besides that, I could by +no means see what the explanation explained. Neither did it help me to +be told by an eminent anatomist that species had succeeded one another +in time, in virtue of "a continuously operative creational law." That +seemed to me to be no more than saying that species had succeeded one +another, in the form of a vote-catching resolution, with "law" to +please the man of science, and "creational" to draw the orthodox. So I +took refuge in that "thatige Skepsis" which Goethe has so well defined; +and, reversing the apostolic precept to be all things to all men, I +usually defended the tenability of the received doctrines, when I had +to do with the transmutationists; and stood up for the possibility of +transmutation among the orthodox--thereby, no doubt, increasing an +already current, but quite undeserved, reputation for needless +combativeness. + +I remember, in the course of my first interview with Mr. Darwin, +expressing my belief in the sharpness of the lines of demarcation +between natural groups and in the absence of transitional forms, with +all the confidence of youth and imperfect knowledge. I was not aware, +at that time, that he had then been many years brooding over the +species-question; and the humorous smile which accompanied his gentle +answer, that such was not altogether his view, long haunted and puzzled +me. But it would seem that four or five years' hard work had enabled +me to understand what it meant; for Lyell ('Life and Letters,' volume +ii. page 212.), writing to Sir Charles Bunbury (under date of April 30, +1856), says:-- + +"When Huxley, Hooker, and Wollaston were at Darwin's last week they +(all four of them) ran a tilt against species--further, I believe, than +they are prepared to go." + +I recollect nothing of this beyond the fact of meeting Mr. Wollaston; +and except for Sir Charles' distinct assurance as to "all four," I +should have thought my "outrecuidance" was probably a counterblast to +Wollaston's conservatism. With regard to Hooker, he was already, like +Voltaire's Habbakuk, "capable du tout" in the way of advocating +Evolution. + +As I have already said, I imagine that most of those of my +contemporaries who thought seriously about the matter, were very much +in my own state of mind--inclined to say to both Mosaists and +Evolutionists, "a plague on both your houses!" and disposed to turn +aside from an interminable and apparently fruitless discussion, to +labour in the fertile fields of ascertainable fact. And I may, +therefore, further suppose that the publication of the Darwin and +Wallace papers in 1858, and still more that of the 'Origin' in 1859, +had the effect upon them of the flash of light, which to a man who has +lost himself in a dark night, suddenly reveals a road which, whether it +takes him straight home or not, certainly goes his way. That which we +were looking for, and could not find, was a hypothesis respecting the +origin of known organic forms, which assumed the operation of no causes +but such as could be proved to be actually at work. We wanted, not to +pin our faith to that or any other speculation, but to get hold of +clear and definite conceptions which could be brought face to face with +facts and have their validity tested. The 'Origin' provided us with +the working hypothesis we sought. Moreover, it did the immense service +of freeing us for ever from the dilemma--refuse to accept the creation +hypothesis, and what have you to propose that can be accepted by any +cautious reasoner? In 1857, I had no answer ready, and I do not think +that any one else had. A year later, we reproached ourselves with +dullness for being perplexed by such an inquiry. My reflection, when I +first made myself master of the central idea of the 'Origin,' was, "How +extremely stupid not to have thought of that!" I suppose that +Columbus' companions said much the same when he made the egg stand on +end. The facts of variability, of the struggle for existence, of +adaptation to conditions, were notorious enough; but none of us had +suspected that the road to the heart of the species problem lay through +them, until Darwin and Wallace dispelled the darkness, and the +beacon-fire of the 'Origin' guided the benighted. + +Whether the particular shape which the doctrine of evolution, as +applied to the organic world, took in Darwin's hands, would prove to be +final or not, was, to me, a matter of indifference. In my earliest +criticisms of the 'Origin' I ventured to point out that its logical +foundation was insecure so long as experiments in selective breeding +had not produced varieties which were more or less infertile; and that +insecurity remains up to the present time. But, with any and every +critical doubt which my sceptical ingenuity could suggest, the +Darwinian hypothesis remained incomparably more probable than the +creation hypothesis. And if we had none of us been able to discern the +paramount significance of some of the most patent and notorious of +natural facts, until they were, so to speak, thrust under our noses, +what force remained in the dilemma--creation or nothing? It was +obvious that, hereafter, the probability would be immensely greater, +that the links of natural causation were hidden from our purblind eyes, +than that natural causation should be incompetent to produce all the +phenomena of nature. The only rational course for those who had no +other object than the attainment of truth, was to accept "Darwinism" as +a working hypothesis, and see what could be made of it. Either it +would prove its capacity to elucidate the facts of organic life, or it +would break down under the strain. This was surely the dictate of +common sense; and, for once, common sense carried the day. The result +has been that complete volte-face of the whole scientific world, which +must seem so surprising to the present generation. I do not mean to +say that all the leaders of biological science have avowed themselves +Darwinians; but I do not think that there is a single zoologist, or +botanist, or palaeontologist, among the multitude of active workers of +this generation, who is other than an evolutionist, profoundly +influenced by Darwin's views. Whatever may be the ultimate fate of the +particular theory put forth by Darwin, I venture to affirm that, so far +as my knowledge goes, all the ingenuity and all the learning of hostile +critics have not enabled them to adduce a solitary fact, of which it +can be said, this is irreconcilable with the Darwinian theory. In the +prodigious variety and complexity of organic nature, there are +multitudes of phenomena which are not deducible from any +generalisations we have yet reached. But the same may be said of every +other class of natural objects. I believe that astronomers cannot yet +get the moon's motions into perfect accordance with the theory of +gravitation. + +It would be inappropriate, even if it were possible, to discuss the +difficulties and unresolved problems which have hitherto met the +evolutionist, and which will probably continue to puzzle him for +generations to come, in the course of this brief history of the +reception of Mr. Darwin's great work. But there are two or three +objections of a more general character, based, or supposed to be based, +upon philosophical and theological foundations, which were loudly +expressed in the early days of the Darwinian controversy, and which, +though they have been answered over and over again, crop up now and +then to the present day. + +The most singular of these, perhaps immortal, fallacies, which live on, +Tithonus-like, when sense and force have long deserted them, is that +which charges Mr. Darwin with having attempted to reinstate the old +pagan goddess, Chance. It is said that he supposes variations to come +about "by chance," and that the fittest survive the "chances" of the +struggle for existence, and thus "chance" is substituted for +providential design. + +It is not a little wonderful that such an accusation as this should be +brought against a writer who has, over and over again, warned his +readers that when he uses the word "spontaneous," he merely means that +he is ignorant of the cause of that which is so termed; and whose whole +theory crumbles to pieces if the uniformity and regularity of natural +causation for illimitable past ages is denied. But probably the best +answer to those who talk of Darwinism meaning the reign of "chance," is +to ask them what they themselves understand by "chance"? Do they +believe that anything in this universe happens without reason or +without a cause? Do they really conceive that any event has no cause, +and could not have been predicted by any one who had a sufficient +insight into the order of Nature? If they do, it is they who are the +inheritors of antique superstition and ignorance, and whose minds have +never been illumined by a ray of scientific thought. The one act of +faith in the convert to science, is the confession of the universality +of order and of the absolute validity in all times and under all +circumstances, of the law of causation. This confession is an act of +faith, because, by the nature of the case, the truth of such +propositions is not susceptible of proof. But such faith is not blind, +but reasonable; because it is invariably confirmed by experience, and +constitutes the sole trustworthy foundation for all action. + +If one of these people, in whom the chance-worship of our remoter +ancestors thus strangely survives, should be within reach of the sea +when a heavy gale is blowing, let him betake himself to the shore and +watch the scene. Let him note the infinite variety of form and size of +the tossing waves out at sea; or of the curves of their foam-crested +breakers, as they dash against the rocks; let him listen to the roar +and scream of the shingle as it is cast up and torn down the beach; or +look at the flakes of foam as they drive hither and thither before the +wind; or note the play of colours, which answers a gleam of sunshine as +it falls upon the myriad bubbles. Surely here, if anywhere, he will +say that chance is supreme, and bend the knee as one who has entered +the very penetralia of his divinity. But the man of science knows that +here, as everywhere, perfect order is manifested; that there is not a +curve of the waves, not a note in the howling chorus, not a +rainbow-glint on a bubble, which is other than a necessary consequence +of the ascertained laws of nature; and that with a sufficient knowledge +of the conditions, competent physico-mathematical skill could account +for, and indeed predict, every one of these "chance" events. + +A second very common objection to Mr. Darwin's views was (and is), that +they abolish Teleology, and eviscerate the argument from design. It is +nearly twenty years since I ventured to offer some remarks on this +subject, and as my arguments have as yet received no refutation, I hope +I may be excused for reproducing them. I observed, "that the doctrine +of Evolution is the most formidable opponent of all the commoner and +coarser forms of Teleology. But perhaps the most remarkable service to +the Philosophy of Biology rendered by Mr. Darwin is the reconciliation +of Teleology and Morphology, and the explanation of the facts of both, +which his views offer. The teleology which supposes that the eye, such +as we see it in man, or one of the higher vertebrata, was made with the +precise structure it exhibits, for the purpose of enabling the animal +which possesses it to see, has undoubtedly received its death-blow. +Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that there is a wider +teleology which is not touched by the doctrine of Evolution, but is +actually based upon the fundamental proposition of Evolution. This +proposition is that the whole world, living and not living, is the +result of the mutual interaction, according to definite laws, of the +forces (I should now like to substitute the word powers for "forces.") +possessed by the molecules of which the primitive nebulosity of the +universe was composed. If this be true, it is no less certain that the +existing world lay potentially in the cosmic vapour, and that a +sufficient intelligence could, from a knowledge of the properties of +the molecules of that vapour, have predicted, say the state of the +fauna of Britain in 1869, with as much certainty as one can say what +will happen to the vapour of the breath on a cold winter's day... + +...The teleological and the mechanical views of nature are not, +necessarily, mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the more purely a +mechanist the speculator is, the more firmly does he assume a +primordial molecular arrangement of which all the phenomena of the +universe are the consequences, and the more completely is he thereby at +the mercy of the teleologist, who can always defy him to disprove that +this primordial molecular arrangement was not intended to evolve the +phenomena of the universe." (The "Genealogy of Animals" ('The +Academy,' 1869), reprinted in 'Critiques and Addresses.') + +The acute champion of Teleology, Paley, saw no difficulty in admitting +that the "production of things" may be the result of trains of +mechanical dispositions fixed beforehand by intelligent appointment and +kept in action by a power at the centre ('Natural Theology,' chapter +xxiii.), that is to say, he proleptically accepted the modern doctrine +of Evolution; and his successors might do well to follow their leader, +or at any rate to attend to his weighty reasonings, before rushing into +an antagonism which has no reasonable foundation. + +Having got rid of the belief in chance and the disbelief in design, as +in no sense appurtenances of Evolution, the third libel upon that +doctrine, that it is anti-theistic, might perhaps be left to shift for +itself. But the persistence with which many people refuse to draw the +plainest consequences from the propositions they profess to accept, +renders it advisable to remark that the doctrine of Evolution is +neither Anti-theistic nor Theistic. It simply has no more to do with +Theism than the first book of Euclid has. It is quite certain that a +normal fresh-laid egg contains neither cock nor hen; and it is also as +certain as any proposition in physics or morals, that if such an egg is +kept under proper conditions for three weeks, a cock or hen chicken +will be found in it. It is also quite certain that if the shell were +transparent we should be able to watch the formation of the young fowl, +day by day, by a process of evolution, from a microscopic cellular germ +to its full size and complication of structure. Therefore Evolution, +in the strictest sense, is actually going on in this and analogous +millions and millions of instances, wherever living creatures exist. +Therefore, to borrow an argument from Butler, as that which now happens +must be consistent with the attributes of the Deity, if such a Being +exists, Evolution must be consistent with those attributes. And, if +so, the evolution of the universe, which is neither more nor less +explicable than that of a chicken, must also be consistent with them. +The doctrine of Evolution, therefore, does not even come into contact +with Theism, considered as a philosophical doctrine. That with which +it does collide, and with which it is absolutely inconsistent, is the +conception of creation, which theological speculators have based upon +the history narrated in the opening of the book of Genesis. + +There is a great deal of talk and not a little lamentation about the +so-called religious difficulties which physical science has created. +In theological science, as a matter of fact, it has created none. Not +a solitary problem presents itself to the philosophical Theist, at the +present day, which has not existed from the time that philosophers +began to think out the logical grounds and the logical consequences of +Theism. All the real or imaginary perplexities which flow from the +conception of the universe as a determinate mechanism, are equally +involved in the assumption of an Eternal, Omnipotent and Omniscient +Deity. The theological equivalent of the scientific conception of +order is Providence; and the doctrine of determinism follows as surely +from the attributes of foreknowledge assumed by the theologian, as from +the universality of natural causation assumed by the man of science. +The angels in 'Paradise Lost' would have found the task of enlightening +Adam upon the mysteries of "Fate, Foreknowledge, and Free-will," not a +whit more difficult, if their pupil had been educated in a +"Real-schule" and trained in every laboratory of a modern university. +In respect of the great problems of Philosophy, the post-Darwinian +generation is, in one sense, exactly where the prae-Darwinian +generations were. They remain insoluble. But the present generation +has the advantage of being better provided with the means of freeing +itself from the tyranny of certain sham solutions. + +The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on +an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our +business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add +something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions. And even +a cursory glance at the history of the biological sciences during the +last quarter of a century is sufficient to justify the assertion, that +the most potent instrument for the extension of the realm of natural +knowledge which has come into men's hands, since the publication of +Newton's 'Principia,' is Darwin's 'Origin of Species.' + +It was badly received by the generation to which it was first +addressed, and the outpouring of angry nonsense to which it gave rise +is sad to think upon. But the present generation will probably behave +just as badly if another Darwin should arise, and inflict upon them +that which the generality of mankind most hate--the necessity of +revising their convictions. Let them, then, be charitable to us +ancients; and if they behave no better than the men of my day to some +new benefactor, let them recollect that, after all, our wrath did not +come to much, and vented itself chiefly in the bad language of +sanctimonious scolds. Let them as speedily perform a strategic +right-about-face, and follow the truth wherever it leads. The +opponents of the new truth will discover, as those of Darwin are doing, +that, after all, theories do not alter facts, and that the universe +remains unaffected even though texts crumble. Or, it may be, that, as +history repeats itself, their happy ingenuity will also discover that +the new wine is exactly of the same vintage as the old, and that +(rightly viewed) the old bottles prove to have been expressly made for +holding it. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reception of the 'Origin of +Species', by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECEPTION OF 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES' *** + +***** This file should be named 2089.txt or 2089.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/2089/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher. 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