When the second edition of “The Antiquity of Man” appeared in a few months, there was a significant change in one sentence:-- “Yet we ought by no means to undervalue the importance of the step which will have been made, should it hereafter become the generally received opinion of men of science (as I fully expect it will) that the past changes of the organic world have been brought about by the subordinate agency of such causes as Variation and Natural Selection.” The words in parentheses had been added, and constituted Lyell’s first public expression of an opinion in favour of Darwin’s views. About this time an article appeared in the _Athenæum_ (March 28th, 1863), attacking the opinions in favour of evolution contained in Dr. Carpenter’s work on Foraminifera, and supporting spontaneous generation. This was one of the rare occasions on which Darwin entered into controversy, and he wrote attacking spontaneous generation, and pointing out the numerous classes of facts which are connected by an intelligible thread of reasoning by means of his theory. In this letter he quoted the altered sentence from the second edition of the “Antiquity.” Darwin’s letter was answered in an article (May 2nd) in which it was argued that _any_ theory of descent would connect the various classes of facts equally well. To this Darwin replied in a characteristic letter. It was evident that he was most reluctant to continue the controversy, but thought it fair to admit publicly the force of his opponent’s arguments. [Sidenote: ACCESSION OF LYELL.] In 1864 the Copley Medal of the Royal Society was given to Darwin. At the anniversary dinner of the Society, after the meeting at which the medals are presented by the President, Sir Charles Lyell in his speech made a “confession of faith” as to the “Origin.” Darwin was prevented by illness from receiving the medal in person and from being present at the dinner. The tenth edition of the “Principles” was published in 1867 and 1868, and in it Lyell clearly stated his belief in evolution. Sir Joseph Hooker, in his presidential address to the British Association at Norwich in 1868, eloquently spoke of the “new foundation” with which Lyell had under-pinned the edifice he had raised, and had thus rendered it “not only more secure, but more harmonious in its proportion than it was before.” Wallace, too, in an article in the _Quarterly Review_ (April, 1869), spoke with equal eloquence and force of the significance of Lyell’s change of opinion.