Darwin-Wallace Celebration. 25 



Mendelian lines. It was you, Dr. Galton, who first showed 

 the way by which exact measurement could be applied to 

 the problems o evolution and heredity, and indicated that 

 their laws must be susceptible of proof. You have pointed 

 out a new method, and the possibility of a more logical 

 treatment of evolutionary questions. By establishing such 

 principles as that of " Recession to Mediocrity " you have 

 added new laws to evolution, and under the name of 

 " Cessation of Selection " you have suggested an explanation 

 of degeneration following disuse, anticipating that afterwards 

 independently proposed and elaborated by Weismann, and 

 called by him Panmixia. 



The ingenuity of your methods, your energy and enthusiasm 

 in applying them, and your constant interest in the work 

 of others, and readiness to help them, have made you a 

 great power in the advancement of evolutionary studies ; 

 a power which has only been strengthened by your 

 characteristic open-miudedness and willingness to accept 

 new views. 



You have shown, throughout the wide range of your 

 work, that exactness of method is consistent with the charm 

 of style ; and we may recall the words of your cousin 

 Mr. Darwin, in speaking of your famous book on Hereditary 

 Genius, " I do not think I ever, in all my life, read anything 

 more interesting or original." 



The new departure which you inaugurated in the study 

 of Evolution, has been previously recognised by the award 

 of the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society. We desire 

 to add our own recognition of the originality and importance 

 of your work by asking you to receive the Medal which 

 commemorates the united discoveries of Darwin and Wallace. 



Dr. FRANCIS GALTON, F.R.S. : I thank you for your 

 kind remarks, Sir. You have to listen to-day to many 

 speakers, and I have little new to say, little indeed that 

 would not be a repetition, but I may say that this occasion 

 has called forth vividly my recollection of the feelings of 

 gratitude that I had towards the originators of the then 



