moment this, or any other conception, ceases to be useful for these
purposes, away with it to the four winds; we care not what becomes of
it!

But to say truth, although it has been my business to attend closely to
the controversies roused by the publication of Mr. Darwin's book, I
think that not one of the enormous mass of objections and obstacles
which have been raised is of any very great value, except that
sterility case which I brought before you just now. All the rest are
misunderstandings of some sort, arising either from prejudice, or want
of knowledge, or still more from want of patience and care in reading
the work.

For you must recollect that it is not a book to be read with as much
ease as its pleasant style may lead you to imagine. You spin through
it as if it were a novel the first time you read it, and think you know
all about it; the second time you read it you think you know rather
less about it; and the third time, you are amazed to find how little
you have really apprehended its vast scope and objects. I can
positively say that I never take it up without finding in it some new
view, or light, or suggestion that I have not noticed before. That is
the best characteristic of a thorough and profound book; and I believe
this feature of the 'Origin of Species' explains why so many persons
have ventured to pass judgment and criticisms upon it which are by no
means worth the paper they are written on.

Before concluding these lectures there is one point to which I must
advert,--though, as Mr. Darwin has said nothing about man in his book,
it concerns myself rather than him;--for I have strongly maintained on
sundry occasions that if Mr. Darwin's views are sound, they apply as