Reverend Richard Greswell, B.D., Tutor of Worcester College.); but we
did not merely want any theological discussion, so we shouted them down.
Then a Mr. Dingle got up and tried to show that Darwin would have done
much better if he had taken him into consultation. He used the
blackboard and began a mathematical demonstration on the question--"Let
this point A be man, and let that point B be the mawnkey." He got no
further; he was shouted down with cries of "mawnkey." None of these had
spoken more than three minutes. It was when these were shouted down that
Henslow said he must demand that the discussion should rest on
SCIENTIFIC grounds only.

Then there were calls for the Bishop, but he rose and said he understood
his friend Professor Beale had something to say first. Beale, who was an
excellent histologist, spoke to the effect that the new theory ought to
meet with fair discussion, but added, with great modesty, that he
himself had not sufficient knowledge to discuss the subject adequately.
Then the Bishop spoke the speech that you know, and the question about
his mother being an ape, or his grandmother.

From the scientific point of view, the speech was of small value. It was
evident from his mode of handling the subject that he had been "crammed
up to the throat," and knew nothing at first hand; he used no argument
beyond those to be found in his "Quarterly" article, which appeared a
few days later, and is now admitted to have been inspired by Owen. "He
ridiculed Darwin badly and Huxley savagely; but," confesses one of his
strongest opponents, "all in such dulcet tones, so persuasive a manner,
and in such well turned periods, that I who had been inclined to blame
the President for allowing a discussion that could serve no scientific
purpose, now forgave him from the bottom of my heart." ("Life of Darwin"
l.c.)