in silent astonishment, and as far as I can
judge without any effect on my mind[103].'

The reason of this indifference towards his grandfather's works is
obvious. All through his life, Darwin, like Lyell, showed a positive
distaste for all speculation or theorising that was not based on a good
foundation of facts or observations. In this respect, the attitude of
Darwin's mind was the very opposite of that of Herbert Spencer--who,
Huxley jokingly said, would regard as a 'tragedy'--'the killing of a
beautiful theory by an ugly fact.' Darwin tells us himself that, while
on his first reading of _Zoonomia_ he 'greatly admired' it--evidently on
literary grounds--yet 'on reading it a second time after an interval of
ten or fifteen years, I was much disappointed; _the proportion of
speculation being so large to the facts given_.' Huxley who knew Charles
Darwin so well in later years said of him that:--

'He abhors mere speculation as nature abhors a vacuum. He is as
greedy of cases and precedents as any constitutional lawyer, and
all the principles he lays down are capable of being brought to
the test of observation and experiment[104].'

What then, we may ask, were the facts and observations which turned
Darwin's mind towards the great problem that came to be the work of his
after life? I think it is possible from the study of his letters and
other published writings to give an answer to this very interesting
question.

In November 1832, Darwin returned to Monte Video, from a long journey in
the interior of the South American Continent, bringing with him many
zoological specimens and a great quantity of fossil bones, teeth and
scales, dug out by him with infinite toil from the red mud of the
Pampas--these fossils evidently belonging to the geological period that
immediately preceded that of the existing creation. The living animals
represented in his collection were all obviously very distinct from
those of Europe--consisting of curious sloths, anteaters, and
armadilloes--the so-called 'Edentata' of naturalists. And when young
Darwin came to examine and compare his _fossil_ bones, teeth and scales
he found that they too must have belonged to animals (megatherium,
mylodon, glyptodon, etc.) quite distinct from but of strikingly similar
structure to those now living in South America. What could be the
meaning of this wonderful analogy? If Cuvier and his fellow
Catastrophists were correct in their view that,