t
time he changed from being neutral, with a tendency in favour of the
new views, to being a bitter opponent of them. In scientific societies
and in London generally, naturally enough he constantly came across
the younger scientific men, such as Huxley and Hooker, who had
declared for Darwin, and he made the irretrievable mistake of for a
time attempting to disguise his opposition while he was writing the
most bitter of all the articles against Darwinism. That appeared in
the _Edinburgh Review_ in April, 1860, and the range of knowledge it
displayed, and the form of arguments employed, naturally enough
betrayed the secret of its authorship, although Owen for very long
attempted to conceal his connection with it. Darwin, who had the most
unusual generosity towards his opponents, found this review too much
for him. Writing to Lyell soon after its publication, he said:

"I have just read the _Edinburgh_, which, without doubt is by
----. It is extremely malignant, clever, and, I fear, will be
very damaging. He is atrociously severe on Huxley's lecture, and
very bitter against Hooker. So we three _enjoyed_ it together.
Not that I really enjoyed it, for it made me uncomfortable for
one night; but I have quite got over it to-day. It requires much
study to appreciate all the bitter spite of many of the remarks
against me; indeed I did not discover all myself. It scandalously
misrepresents many parts. He misquotes some passages, altering
words within inverted commas.... It is painful to be hated in the
intense degree with which ---- hates me."

As Owen was still alive when this letter was published in _Darwin's
Life_, the authorship of the review was not actually mentioned; but it
is necessary to mention it, as it justifies the sternness with which
Huxley exposed Owen on an occasion shortly to be described. The review
in the _Quarterly_ was written by Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford,
in July, 1860, and almost at once the authorship of it became known
to Darwin's friends. In connection with this, Huxley wrote in 1887, in
_Darwin's Life and Letters_:

"I doubt if there was any man then living who had a better right
(than Darwin) to expect that anything he might choose to say on
such a question as the Origin of Species would be listened to
with profound attention, and discussed with respect. And there
was certainly no man whose personal character s