308 MISCELLANEA. [ch. xv. 



science, and that the pain which they inflict is pain which 



it is not justifiable to inflict even for the scientific object in 



view, he readily acknowledges that he does not know a single 



case of wanton cruelty, and that in general the English 



physiologists have used anaesthetics where they think they 



can do so with safety to the experiment. , ' 



I am, Sir, your obedient servant. 

 April 21. 



During the later years of my father's life there was a 

 growing tendency in the public to do him honour.* The 

 honours which he valued most highly were those which 

 united the sympathy of friends with a mark of recognition 

 of his scientific colleagues. Of this type was the article 

 " Charles Darwin," published in Nature, June 4, 1874, and 

 written by Asa Gray. This admirable estimate of my 

 father's work in science is given in the form of a comparison 

 and contrast between Robert Brown and Charles Darwin. 



To Gray he wrote : 



" I wrote yesterday and cannot remember exactly what I 

 said, and now cannot be easy without again telling you how 

 profoundly I have been gratified. Every one, I suppose, 

 occasionally thinks that he has worked in vain, and when 

 one of these fits overtakes me, I will think of your article, 

 and if that does not dispel the evil spirit, I shall know that 

 I am at the time a little bit insane, as we all are occasionally. 



" What you say about Teleology f pleases me especially, 

 and I do not think any one else has ever noticed the point. 

 I have always said you were the man to hit the nail on the 

 head." 



In 1877 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from 

 the University of Cambridge. The degree was conferred 

 on November 17, and with the customary Latin speech from 

 the Public Orator, concluding with the words : " Tu vero, 

 qui leges nature tarn docte illustraveris, legum doctor nobis 

 esto." 



The honorary degree led to a movement being set on 

 foot in the University to obtain some permanent memorial 



* In 1867 he had received a distinguished honour from Germany, the or- 

 der u Pour le Merite." 



t "Let us recognise Darwin's great service to Natural Science in bringing 

 back to it Teleology ; so that instead of Morphology versus Teleology, we 

 shall have Morphology wedded to Teleology." Similar remarks had been 

 previously made by Mr. Huxley. See Critiques and Addresses, p. 305. 



