By Samuel Butler Author of “Erewhon,” “The Way of All Flesh,” etc. Edited by R. A. Streatfeild London : A. C. Fifield 1914   PAGE Darwin on the Origin of Species 149 A Dialogue 155 Barrel-Organs 164 Letter: 21 February 1863 167 Letter: 14 March 1863 171 Letter: 18 March 1863 173 Letter: 11 April 1863 175 Letter: 22 June 1863 177 Darwin Among the Machines 179 Lucubratio Ebria 186 A Note on “The Tempest” 195 The English Cricketers 198...

As the following dialogue embodies the earliest fruits of Butler’s study of the works of Charles Darwin , with whose name his own was destined in later years to be so closely connected , and thus possesses an interest apart from its intrinsic merit , a few words as to the circumstances in which it was published will not be out of place . Butler arrived in New Zealand in October , 1859, and about the same time Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published .  Shortly afterwards the book came in

[From the Press , 20 December, 1862.] F.  So you have finished Darwin?  Well, how did you like him? C.  You cannot expect me to like him.  He is so hard and logical, and he treats his subject with such an intensity of dry reasoning without giving himself the loose rein for a single moment from one end of the book to the other, that I must confess I have found it a great effort to read him through. F.  But I fancy that, if you are to be candid, you will admit that the fault lies rather with yours

[From the Press , 17 January, 1863.] Dugald Stewart in his Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysics says: “On reflecting on the repeated reproduction of ancient paradoxes by modern authors one is almost tempted to suppose that human invention is limited, like a barrel-organ, to a specific number of tunes.” It would be a very amusing and instructive task for a man of reading and reflection to note down the instances he meets with of these old tunes coming up again and again in regular successi

To the Editor of the Press . Sir—In two of your numbers you have already taken notice of Darwin’s theory of the origin of species; I would venture to trespass upon your space in order to criticise briefly both your notices. The first is evidently the composition of a warm adherent of the theory in question; the writer overlooks all the real difficulties in the way of accepting it, and, caught by the obvious truth of much that Darwin says, has rushed to the conclusion that all is equally true.  H

To the Editor of the Press . Sir—A correspondent signing himself “A. M.” in the issue of February 21st says:—“Will the writer (of an article on barrel-organs) refer to anything bearing upon natural selection and the struggle for existence in Dr. Darwin’s work?”  This is one of the trade forms by which writers imply that there is no such passage, and yet leave a loophole if they are proved wrong.  I will, however, furnish him with a passage from the notes of Darwin’s Botanic Garden :— “I am acqua

To the Editor of the Press . Sir—The “Savoyard” of last Saturday has shown that he has perused Darwin’s Botanic Garden with greater attention than myself.  I am obliged to him for his correction of my carelessness, and have not the smallest desire to make use of any loopholes to avoid being “proved wrong.”  Let, then, the “Savoyard’s” assertion that Dr. Darwin had to a certain extent forestalled Mr. C. Darwin stand, and let my implied denial that in the older Darwin’s works passages bearing on n

To the Editor of the Press . Sir—Your correspondent “A. M.” is pertinacious on the subject of the bear being changed into a whale, which I said Darwin contemplated as not impossible.  I did not take the trouble in any former letter to answer him on that point, as his language was so intemperate.  He has modified his tone in his last letter, and really seems open to the conviction that he may be the “careless” writer after all; and so on reflection I have determined to give him the opportunity of

To the Editor of the Press . Sir—I extract the following from an article in the Saturday Review of January 10, 1863, on the vertebrated animals of the Zoological Gardens. “As regards the ducks, for example, inter-breeding goes on to a very great extent among nearly all the genera, which are well represented in the collection.  We think it unfortunate that the details of these crosses have not hitherto been made public.  The Zoological Society has existed about thirty-five years, and we imagine t

“ Darwin Among the Machines ” originally appeared in the Christ Church Press , 13 June , 1863.  It was reprinted by Mr. Festing Jones in his edition of The Note-Books of Samuel Butler ( Fifield , London , 1912, Kennerley , New York ), with a prefatory note pointing out its connection with the genesis of Erewhon , to which readers desirous of further information may be referred . [To the Editor of the Press , Christchurch, New Zealand, 13 June, 1863.] Sir —There are few things of which the presen

“ Lucubratio Ebria ,” like “ Darwin Among the Machines ,” has already appeared in The Note-Books of Samuel Butler with a prefatory note by Mr. Festing Jones , explaining its connection with Erewhon and Life and Habit .  I need therefore only repeat that it was written by Butler after his return to England and sent to New Zealand , where it was published in the Press on July 29, 1865. [From the Press , 29 July, 1865.] There is a period in the evening, or more generally towards the still small hou

The following brief essay was contributed by Butler to a small miscellany entitled Literary Foundlings : Verse and Prose , Collected in Canterbury , N.Z., which was published at Christ Church on the occasion of a bazaar held there in March , 1864, in aid of the funds of the Christ Church Orphan Asylum , and offered for sale during the progress of the bazaar .  The miscellany consisted entirely of the productions of Canterbury writers , and among the contributors were Dean Jacobs , Canon Cottrell

The following lines were written by Butler in February , 1864, and appeared in the Press .  They refer to a visit paid to New Zealand by a team of English cricketers , and have kindly been copied and sent to me by Miss Colborne-Veel , whose father was editor of the Press at the time that Butler was writing for it .  Miss Colborne-Veel has further permitted to me to make use of the following explanatory note : “ The coming of the All England team was naturally a glorious event in a province only