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8 Upper Hornsey Rise. N.

1885, May 17 –

Dear Professor Darwin

Two episodes of the great discussion at Oxford between Professor Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce chiefly dwell in my memory —the one, the deplorable incident when Admiral Fitzroy stood up near the centre of the crowded Sheldonian Theatre, and lifting an immense Bible

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First with both hands and afterwards with one hand over his head, solemnly implored the audience to believe in God rather than man — God who vouchsafes himself to speak to every man in that book. He urged them to reject with abhorrence the attempt to substitute human conjectures and human inventions for the explicit revelation which

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The Almighty has himself made in that book of the great events which took place when it pleased Him to create the World and all that it contained.

This is only a paraphrase of what Admiral Fitzroy said, for I do not remember the words. The silence that followed showed I think that even his own side of the audience, who were the majority, rejected

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the incident & felt it to be out of place. By me and my companion Provost Lloyd of Trinity College, Dublin, who was beside me, and I think by most of the minority of the audience, our perception of the ignoratio elenchi that the issue sought to be raised was an ignoratio elenchi was almost [illeg] by our sense of the deplorable character of the whole incident.

The other incident was one of

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2

one of which I can give a better account as the critical words were few striking and easily remembered.

The controversy was being carried on by short alternate speeches from Huxley and the Bishop. The audience was unpleasantly partisan, a majority on the Bishop's side, the minority on Huxley's, and each moiety applauding every hit made by its

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champion. There seemed to be very little impartiality.

The descent of man was the part of the subject under discussion, and was introduced by the Bishop of Oxford in a speech a little longer than usual, in which he roused up the feelings of his larger section of the audience — Exercising an art which Bishop Wilberforce possessed in extraordinary perfection — to regard it as ridiculous to believe and

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degrading to suppose that man was is descended from an ape!

When he sat down amid vociferous and excited applause, Huxley rose very slowly; and the first words of his rejoinder were "I had rather be the offspring of two apes than be a man and afraid to face the truth"— an announcement which was followed by the [illeg]-cheers of his minority. He then proceeded quietly scarifying manner, in contrast to the Bishop's

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passionate appeal, to correct the Bishop of Oxford's statement where erroneous & to reply to the parts of his argument which remained.

Believe me

Very truly yours

G. Johnstone Stoney.