On the Reception of the 'Origin of Species'Huxley, Thomas Henry
Religion
On the Reception of the 'Origin of Species'
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882. On the origin of species; Evolution (Biology)
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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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