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Page 35
Mention has been made of the instant support he was able to lend the
_Origin_ in the _Times_ review of the book, and the extension of its
doctrines in regard to man. Even before the book appeared, however, he
began to act as what Darwin laughingly called his "general agent."
His address on "Persistent Types" (June, 1859) aimed at clearing up in
advance one of the obvious objections raised against acceptance of the
doctrine of Evolution--namely, how is it that, if evolution is ever
progressive, progress is not universal? How is it that all forms do
not necessarily advance, and that simple organisms still exist? As
it happened, Darwin did not discuss this point when he first put
the _Origin_ together, and speedily came to regard this as the most
serious omission in the book.
Great, then, was the debt of all science to Darwin. And not of science
only. The fight for freedom of thought and speech in science, into
which Huxley especially threw himself, was the more successful because
the immediate cause he upheld was so overwhelmingly strong in reason
and demonstration; and, the supreme curb upon thought being once
broken, a wider freedom was gained.
For Darwin, therefore, Huxley had the reverence due to one who had
forged a new and mighty weapon in the war for plain truth. But,
while he could not but uphold a theory so much in accord with his own
knowledge and so fruitful in its promise of new knowledge, whether the
author of it were his friend or not, admiration and affection for a
man of such utter sincerity, such selfless respect for truth, and warm
personality, led him, when those views were stupidly or maliciously
attacked, to take more trouble in his defence and support, and to
strike out much harder at his adversary than he would otherwise have
done. Darwin's friends were well assured that the scanty time which
his health allowed for work was far too precious to be wasted in
controversy; for his own sake and for the sake of the calm atmosphere
in which a great theory should be worked out, they thought that the
battling on a lower plane should be left to them. "You ought to be
like one of the blessed gods of Elysium, and let the inferior deities
do battle with the infernal powers." "If I say a savage thing," Huxley
told him, "it is only 'pretty Fanny's way'; but if you do, it is not
likely to be forgotten." Hence a dash of personal pleasure was infused
into the duty of upholding and defending the bringer of new light.
The acquaintance had begun about 1851; there was a common bond in
their sea experiences and explorations, as well as in their search
after a wider philosophy, to include the teachings of natural science;
the older man found in the younger a source of much biological and
other information, a suggestive critic and a stimulating companion.
Their relations took a long step towards intimacy after 1861, when,
after the loss of her eldest child, Mrs. Huxley and her other children
made a long stay at Down, and entered upon a life-long friendship with
Mrs. Darwin and the family. Thereafter followed many visits to Down,
and, whenever Darwin was in London, the certainty of half-an-hour's
keen talk--all that the doctor allowed--with his friend and
fellow-worker on some critical question of the moment.
Darwin's admiration of his friend's powers was outspoken. To quote one
or two expressions of it: Huxley had delivered, in 1862, six lectures
to working men, which were printed off each week as delivered in
"little green pamphlets," under the general title of "On Our Knowledge
of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature," winding up with
an account of the bearing of the _Origin_ upon the complete theory of
these causes. Acknowledging Nos. IV and V, Darwin writes:--
They are simply perfect. They ought to be largely advertised;
but it is very good in me to say so, for I threw down No.
IV with this reflection: "What is the good of me writing a
thundering big book when everything is in this green little
book, so despicable for its size?" In the name of all that is
good and bad, I may as well shut up shop altogether.
After reading the article "Mr. Darwin's Critics" in 1871, he wrote yet
more enthusiastically. Mr. Mivart, in an apologia for the attitude of
Roman Catholicism towards Evolution, twitted the generality of men of
science with their ignorance of the real doctrines of his Church, and
cited the Jesuit theologian, Suarez, the latest great representative
of scholasticism, as following St. Augustine in asserting derivative
creation--that is, evolution from primordial matter endowed with
certain powers. Huxley thereupon examined the works of the learned
Jesuit, and found not only that the particular reference was not
to the point, but that, in his tract on the "Six Days of Creation,"
Suarez expressly rejects the doctrine and reprehends Augustine
for holding it. "So," write Huxley gleefully at the irony of the
situation, "I have come out in the new character of a defender of
Catholic orthodoxy, and upset Mivart out of the mouth of his own
prophet."
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