Punch's most generous acknowledgment of the genius of Charles Darwin was published in 1877:—
THREE ILLUSTRATIONS OF A THEORY
Though dogmatists and dullards long opposed
His Theory with venomous persistence,
Darwin may now consider it has closed
Its—"Struggle for existence."
To calm research, not fierce polemic raid,
Truth yields her secrets. After fair inspection
The age twixt Science and her foes has made
A—"Natural selection."