services he had undoubtedly--and must always be counted to have--
rendered to evolution.



CHAPTER III



How I came to write "Evolution, Old and New"--Mr Darwin's "brief but
imperfect" sketch of the opinions of the writers on evolution who had
preceded him--The reception which "Evolution, Old and New," met with.

Though my book was out in 1877, it was not till January 1878 that I
took an opportunity of looking up Professor Ray Lankester's account
of Professor Hering's lecture. I can hardly say how relieved I was
to find that it sprung no mine upon me, but that, so far as I could
gather, Professor Hering and I had come to pretty much the same
conclusion. I had already found the passage in Dr. Erasmus Darwin
which I quoted in "Evolution, Old and New," but may perhaps as well
repeat it here. It runs -


"Owing to the imperfection of language, the offspring is termed a new
animal; but is, in truth, a branch or elongation of the parent, since
a part of the embryon animal is or was a part of the parent, and,
therefore, in strict language, cannot be said to be entirely new at
the time of its production, and, therefore, it may retain some of the
habits of the parent system." {26}