“In quoting this, I do not at all mean to give it as a fair illustration of Mr. Darwin’s views. I only refer to it as indicating the extent to which he is prepared to go. The example here given I look upon (as I have reason to know that Mr. Darwin himself does) merely as an extreme and somewhat extravagant illustration, imagined expressly to show in a forcible way how ‘natural selection’ would operate in making a mouth bigger and bigger, because more advantageous.”
CHAPTER XX.
THE DIFFICULTY WITH WHICH THE “ORIGIN” WAS UNDERSTOOD (continued)—VIEWS ON SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.
The history of opinion on evolution and natural selection, in the years which followed the publication of the “Origin,” can be traced in the titles of the papers and subjects of discussion at successive meetings of the British Association. In the Presidential Address delivered by Professor Newton to the Biological Section of the Manchester meeting in 1887, there is a most interesting account of the struggles which took place:—
“The ever-memorable meeting ... at Oxford in the summer of 1860 saw the first open conflict between the professors of the new faith and the adherents of the old one. Far be it from me to blame those among the latter who honestly stuck to the creed in which they had educated themselves; but my admiration is for the few dauntless men who, without flinching from the unpopularity of their cause, flung themselves in the way of obloquy, and impetuously assaulted the ancient citadel in which the sanctity of ‘species’ was enshrined and worshipped as a palladium. However strongly I myself sympathised with them, I cannot fairly state that the conflict on this occasion was otherwise than a drawn battle; and thus matters stood when in the following year the Association met in this city [Manchester]. That, as I have already said, was a time of ‘slack water.’ But though the ancient beliefs were not much troubled, it was for the last time that they could be said to prevail; and thus I look upon our meeting in Manchester 1861 as a crisis in the history of biology. All the same, the ancient beliefs were not allowed to pass wholly unchallenged; and one thing is especially to be marked—they were challenged by one who was no naturalist at all, by one who was a severe thinker no less than an active worker; one who was generally right in his logic, and never wrong in his instinct; one who, though a politician, was invariably an honest man—I mean the late Professor Fawcett. On this occasion he brought the clearness of his mental vision to bear upon Mr. Darwin’s theory, with the result that Mr. Darwin’s method of investigation was shewn to be strictly in accordance with the rules of deductive philosophy, and to throw light where all was dark before.”
Professor Newton specially alluded to this interesting case of Professor Fawcett as illustrating his conviction that the theory of natural selection—
“did not, except in one small point, require a naturalist to think it out and establish its truth.... But in order to see the effect of this principle upon organic life the knowledge—the peculiar knowledge—of the naturalist was required. This was the knowledge of those slight variations which are found in all groups of animals and plants.... Herein lay the triumph of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace. That triumph, however, was not celebrated at Manchester. The question was of such magnitude as to need another year’s incubation, and the crucial struggle came a twelvemonth later when the Association met at Cambridge. The victory of the new doctrine was then declared in a way that none could doubt. I have no inclination to join in the pursuit of the fugitives.”
There is reason to believe that Professor Newton’s impressions of the result of the celebrated meeting of the British Association at Oxford in 1860 are more accurate than those of the eyewitness quoted in the “Life and Letters.” The latter has pictured a brilliant triumph for Huxley in the renowned duel with the Bishop of Oxford. But I have been told by more than one of the audience that Huxley was really too angry to speak effectively, nor is this to be wondered at, considering the extreme provocation. Mr. William Sidgwick, who was present and sympathised warmly with Huxley, has told me that this was his opinion. I have heard the same from the Rev. W. Tuckwell, who also quoted a remark of the late Professor Rolleston tending in the same direction. Mr. Tuckwell said that it was clear that the audience as a whole was not carried away by Huxley’s speech, but, on the contrary, was obviously shocked at it; and he contrasted that occasion with another at which he was also present, in the North, several years later, when Huxley replied to an opponent who, like the bishop, appealed to the theological prejudices of his hearers. But by that time the new teachings had been absorbed, and Huxley gained a signal triumph.
OPPOSITION.
It must not be supposed that Darwin was by any means indifferent to the attacks on his views. On the contrary, his sensitive nature was greatly depressed by the violent and often most unfair criticisms to which he was subjected, although beneath this evident disturbance lay the firm conviction that he had seen the truth, and that the truth would in the end be seen by others.