Darwin- Wallace Celebration. 21 



another point of view, as a contributor to the study of 

 evolution. It is a great gratification to us all that on this 

 occasion you are able to be present, and to me, in particular, 

 that the pleasant duty has fallen to me of making this 

 presentation, in the name of the Society, to one whom I not 

 only admire as a great leader of our Science, but may 

 venture to regard as a personal friend. 



In a number of directions your work has a clear relation 

 to the doctrine which Darwin and Wallace first placed on 

 a scientific basis. 



Your morphological researches, from the early work on 

 Azolla onwards, have always been guided by the evolutionary 

 idea. I think it is in your great book ' Die Conif'eren und 

 die Gnetaceen,' that .you specially speak of the inspiration 

 which you received from the ideas of Charles Darwin. 

 Developmental investigations, such as we owe to you above 

 all other living botanists, have a direct bearing, as you have 

 always recognised, on questions of Descent. 



In a still higher degree the modern science of Cytology, 

 of which, on the botanical side, you are the founder, 

 has the closest relations with the study of heredity, of 

 which it promises to reveal the material basis, and thus 

 contributes to just that part of evolutionary theory which is 

 the most progressive at the present day. 



But there is another aspect of your work which more 

 especially appeals to the followers of Darwin and Wallace. 

 To a Darwinian, as it seems to me, all structure is essentially 

 and originally an adaptation ; broadly speaking, there is 

 no structure without function, no morphology without 

 physiology. One of the greatest evils in Biology, in spite 

 of Darwinian influence, is the separation of these two 

 aspects of the same facts. Now it is a great characteristic 

 of your work on the anatomy of plants that you have always 

 studied the morphology and physiology of the tissues side 

 by side. Your monumental work ' Die Leitungbalmen ' 

 affords perhaps the greatest example we have of an extensive 

 investigation in which equal regard has been paid to 

 structure and function, and equally striking results attained 



