He illustrates in his present life a process well known historically to all naturalists, viz.
"Ways of Wood Folk"
William J. Long
I confess that this is what I rather feel about the experienced naturalists who differ in only too great numbers from myself, but I did not expect to find so much of the old Adam remaining in Mr. Darwin; I did not expect to find him support me in the belief that naturalists are made of much the same stuff as other people, and, if they are wise, will look upon new theories with distrust until they find them becoming generally accepted.
"Luck or Cunning?"
Samuel Butler
It is to be found in the preface which he wrote to Professor Weismann's "Studies in the Theory of Descent," published in 1881. "Several distinguished naturalists," says Mr. Darwin, "maintain with much confidence that organic beings tend to vary and to rise in the scale, independently of the conditions to which they and their progenitors have been exposed; whilst others maintain that all variation is due to such exposure, though the manner in which the environment acts is as yet quite unknown.
"Luck or Cunning?"
Samuel Butler