What is meant by my being caught by a generalisation about the
physical basis of life I do not know; still less can I understand the
assertion that _Bathybius_ was accepted because of its supposed
harmony with Darwin's speculations. That which interested me in the
matter was the apparent analogy of _Bathybius_ with other well-known
forms of lower life, such as the plasmodia of the Myxomycetes and the
Rhizopods. Speculative hopes or fears had nothing to do with the
matter; and if _Bathybius_ were brought up alive from the bottom of
the Atlantic to-morrow, the fact would not have the slightest bearing,
that I can discern, upon Mr. Darwin's speculations, or upon any of the
disputed problems of biology. It would merely be one elementary
organism the more added to the thousands already known.
Up to this moment I was not aware of the universal favour with which
_Bathybius_ was received.[32] Those simulators of an "ignorant mob"
who, according to the Duke of Argyll, welcomed Darwin's theory of
coral-reefs, made no demonstration in my favour, unless his Grace
includes Sir Wyville Thomson, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Bessels, and
Professor Haeckel under that head. On the contrary, a sagacious friend
of mine, than whom there was no more competent judge, the late Mr.
George Busk, was not to be converted; while, long before the
"Challenger" work, Ehrenberg wrote to me very sceptically; and I fully
expected that that eminent man would favour me with pretty sharp
criticism.
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