being brought to the test of observation and experiment. The path he bids
us follow professes to be, not a mere airy track, fabricated of ideal
cobwebs, but a solid and broad bridge of facts. If it be so, it will carry
us safely over many a chasm in our knowledge, and lead us to a region free
from the snares of those fascinating but barren virgins, the Final Causes,
against whom a high authority has so justly warned us. "My sons, dig in the
vineyard," were the last words of the old man in the fable: and, though the
sons found no treasure, they made their fortunes by the grapes.




II

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

[1860]


Mr. Darwin's long-standing and well-earned scientific eminence probably
renders him indifferent to that social notoriety which passes by the name
of success; but if the calm spirit of the philosopher have not yet wholly
superseded the ambition and the vanity of the carnal man within him, he
must be well satisfied with the results of his venture in publishing the
"Origin of Species." Overflowing the narrow bounds of purely scientific
circles, the "species question" divides with Italy and the Volunteers the
attention of general society. Everybody has read Mr. Darwin's book, or, at
least, has given an opinion upon its merits or demerits; pietists, whether
lay or ecclesiastic, decry it with the mild railing which sounds so
charitable; bigots denounce it with ignorant invective; old ladies of both