IX 



THE DARWIN MEMORIAL 249 



natural knowledge. For, whatever be the ultimate 

 verdict of posterity upon this or that opinion 

 which Mr. Darwin has propounded ; whatever 

 adumbrations or anticipations of his doctrines may 

 be found in the writings of his predecessors ; the 

 broad fact remains that, since the publication and 

 by reason of the publication, of " The Origin of 

 Species " the fundamental conceptions and the 

 aims of the students of living Nature have been 

 completely changed. From that work has sprung 

 a great renewal, a true " instauratio magna " of the 

 zoological and botanical sciences. 



But the impulse thus given to scientific thought 

 rapidly spread beyond the ordinarily recognised 

 limits of biology. Psychology, Ethics, Cosmology 

 were stirred to their foundations, and the " Origin 

 of Species" proved itself to be the fixed point 

 which the general doctrine of evolution needed in 

 order to move the world. " Darwinism," in one 

 form or another, sometimes strangely distorted 

 and mutilated, became an everyday topic of men's 

 speech, the object of an abundance both of 

 vituperation and of praise, more often than of 

 serious study. 



It is curious now to remember how largely, at 

 first, the objectors predominated ; but considering 

 the usual fate of new views, it is still more 

 curious to consider for how short a time the phase 

 of vehement opposition lasted. Before twenty 

 years had passed, not only had the importance of 



