A contribution to the last number of this Review (
The
Nineteenth Century) of a different order would be left
unnoticed, were it not that my silence would convert me into an
accessory to misrepresentations of a very grave character.
However, I shall restrict myself to the barest possible
statement of facts, leaving my readers to draw their
own conclusions.
In an article entitled "A Great Lesson," published in this
Review for September, 1887:
(1) The Duke of Argyll says the "overthrow of Darwin's
speculations" (p. 301) concerning the origin of coral reefs,
which he fancied had taken place, had been received by men of
science "with a grudging silence as far as public discussion is
concerned" (p. 301).
The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature
of the subject was well aware, the views supposed to have
effected this overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by
Dana in the United States; by Geikie, Green, and Prestwich in
this country; by Lapparent in France; and by Credner in Germany.
(2) The Duke of Argyll says "that no serious reply has ever been
attempted" (p. 305).
The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject,
Professor Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years before
the Duke of Argyll committed himself to this statement.
(3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of defective
knowledge, multiplied by excessive imagination, to illustrate
the manner in which "certain accepted opinions" established "a
sort of Reign of Terror in their own behalf" (p.
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