Further, Mr. A.G. Vernon-Harcourt, F.R.S., Reader in Chemistry at the
University of Oxford, writes to me:--

The Bishop had rallied your father as to the descent from a monkey,
asking as a sort of joke how recent this had been, whether it was his
grandfather or further back. Your father, in replying on this point,
first explained that the suggestion was of descent through thousands of
generations from a common ancestor, and then went on to this
effect--"But if this question is treated, not as a matter for the calm
investigation of science, but as a matter of sentiment, and if I am
asked whether I would choose to be descended from the poor animal of low
intelligence and stooping gait, who grins and chatters as we pass, or
from a man, endowed with great ability and a splendid position, who
should use these gifts" (here, as the point became clear, there was a
great outburst of applause, which mostly drowned the end of the
sentence) "to discredit and crush humble seekers after truth, I hesitate
what answer to make."

No doubt your father's words were better than these, and they gained
effect from his clear, deliberate utterance, but in outline and in SCALE
this represents truly what was said.

After the commotion was over, "some voices called for Hooker, and his
name having been handed up, the President invited him to give his view
of the theory from the Botanical side. This he did, demonstrating that
the Bishop, by his own showing, had never grasped the principles of the
'Origin,' and that he was absolutely ignorant of the elements of
botanical science. The Bishop made no reply, and the meeting broke up."
("Life of Darwin," l.c.)