A friend of mine, Huxley, who will soon take rank as one of the first
naturalists we have ever produced, begged me to read these sermons as
first rate,] "although, regarding the author as a churchman, you will
probably compare him, as I did, to the drunken fellow in Hogarth's
contested election, who is sawing through the signpost at the other
party's public-house, forgetting he is sitting at the other end of it.
But read them as a piece of clear and unanswerable reasoning."

[In the 1894 preface to the re-issue of "Man's Place" in the Collected
Essays, Huxley speaks as follows of the warnings he received against
publishing on so dangerous a topic, of the storm which broke upon his
head, and the small result which, in the long run, it produced (In
September 1887 he wrote to Mr. Edward Clodd--]"All the propositions laid
down in the wicked book, which was so well anathematised a quarter of a
century ago, are now taught in the text-books. What a droll world it
is!"):--

Magna est veritas et praevalebit! Truth is great, certainly, but
considering her greatness, it is curious what a long time she is apt to
take about prevailing. When, towards the end of 1862, I had finished
writing "Man's Place in Nature," I could say with a good conscience that
my conclusions "had not been formed hastily or enunciated crudely." I
thought I had earned the right to publish them, and even fancied I might
be thanked rather than reproved for doing so. However, in my anxiety to
publish nothing erroneous, I asked a highly competent anatomist and very
good friend of mine to look through my proofs, and, if he could, point
out any errors of fact. I was well pleased when he returned them without
criticism on that score; but my satisfaction was speedily dashed by the
very earnest warning as to the consequences of publication, which my