24 Darwin- Wallace Celebration. 



science may progress, time will never erase the traces of 

 Charles Darwin's investigations. 



When Darwin believed he had erred, he never hesitated 

 to admit it. Here again he showed the mettle of really 

 great men, whose intellectual wealth easily supports a loss, 

 whereas indigent minds cling anxiously to their presumed 

 property. 



Only of few intellectual lights can it be said, as of Charles 

 Darwin, that, even where he was mistaken, he paved the 

 path that leads to truth. 



The development of biological science received through 

 Darwin's work an impulse such as rarely emanates from 

 a single investigator. He showed Biology the way it has 

 since then trodden. 



I also trace back to Darwinian impulse the line and aim 

 of my own work. I therefore pronounce the name of 

 Charles Darwin with profound respect and gratitude. 



When I was young the investigations and the thought 

 of Alfred Russel Wallace also brought me a great stimulus. 

 Through his ' Malay Archipelago/ a new world of scientific 

 knowledge was unfolded before me. On this occasion, I 

 feel it equally my duty to proclaim it with gratitude. 



And now let me also express my thanks to you, Mr. 

 President, and to the Fellows of the venerable Linnean 

 Society, for the great distinction you have bestowed upon me. 

 The medal you have conferred on me, bears the portraits of 

 Charles Darwin and of Alfred Russel Wallace : it is an 

 honour which fills me with legitimate pride that my 

 scientific labour should thereby be brought into contact 

 with the efforts of those great Pioneers of Biology. 



The President then addressed Dr. FRANCIS GALTON. 

 He said : 



Evolution, as understood \)j Darwin and Wallace, 

 depends upon three factors, Heredity, Variation, and Natural 

 Selection. In the study of the first of these factors, 

 Heredity, the work of the present day is characterised by 

 the application of exact methods, whether on biometrical or 



