The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reception of the 'Origin of Species', by
Thomas Henry Huxley

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Reception of the 'Origin of Species'

Author: Thomas Henry Huxley

Posting Date: October 26, 2008 [EBook #2089]
Release Date: February, 2000

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECEPTION OF 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES' ***

Produced by Sue Asscher. HTML version by Al Haines.

ON THE RECEPTION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES'

by

PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY

FROM THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN

EDITED BY FRANCIS DARWIN

ON THE RECEPTION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

To the present generation, that is to say, the people a few years on
the hither and thither side of thirty, the name of Charles Darwin
stands alongside of those of Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday; and,
like them, calls up the grand ideal of a searcher after truth and
interpreter of Nature. They think of him who bore it as a rare
combination of genius, industry, and unswerving veracity, who earned
his place among the most famous men of the age by sheer native power,
in the teeth of a gale of popular prejudice, and uncheered by a sign of
favour or appreciation from the official fountains of honour; as one
who in spite of an acute sensitiveness to praise and blame, and
notwithstanding provocations which might have excused any outbreak,
kept himself clear of all envy, hatred, and malice, nor dealt otherwise
than fairly and justly with the unfairness and injustice which was
showered upon him; while, to the end of his days, he was ready to
listen with patience and respect to the most insignificant of
reasonable objectors.

And with respect to that theory of the origin of the forms of life
peopling our globe, with which Darwin's name is bound up as closely as
that of Newton with the theory of gravitation, nothing seems to be
further from the mind of the present generation than any attempt to
smother it with ridicule or to crush it by vehemence of denunciation.
"The struggle for existence," and "Natural selection," have become
household words and every-day conceptions. The reality and the
importance of th