[182] A letter of Dec. 14, gives a good example of the manner in which some naturalists received and understood it. "Old J. E. Gray of the British Museum attacked me in fine style: 'You have just reproduced Lamarck's doctrine, and nothing else, and here Lyell and others have been attacking him for twenty years, and because you (with a sneer and laugh) say the very same thing, they are all coming round; it is the most ridiculous inconsistency, &c. &c.'"
[183] See, however, p. 211.
[184] Mr. Huxley has made a similar remark:—"Long occupation with the work has led the present writer to believe that the Origin of Species is one of the hardest of books to master."—Obituary Notice, Proc. R. Soc. No. 269, p. xvii.
CHAPTER XIII. THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES'—REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS—ADHESIONS AND ATTACKS.
"You are the greatest revolutionist in natural history of this century, if not of all centuries."—H. C. Watson to C. Darwin, Nov. 21, 1859.
1860.
The second edition, 3000 copies, of the Origin was published on January 7th; on the 10th, he wrote with regard to it, to Lyell:—
C. D. to C. Lyell. Down, January 10th [1860].