156 THE COMING [CH. 



No one could sympathise more folly than would 

 Darwin, were he still with us, in these various depar- 

 tures. He was compelled, from want of evidence, 

 to regard variations as spontaneous, but would have 

 heartily welcomed every attempt to discover the laws 

 which govern them ; and equally would he have 

 delighted in researches directed to the investigation 

 of the determining factors, controlling conditions and 

 limits of inheritance. The man who so carefully 

 counted and weighed his seeds in botanical experi- 

 ments, could not but rejoice in the refined mathematical 

 methods now being applied to biological problems. 



Let us not ' in looking at the trees, lose sight of 

 the wood.' Underlying all the problems, some of 

 them very hotly discussed at the present day, there 

 is the great central principle of Natural Selection 

 which if not the sole factor in evolution, is un- 

 doubtedly a very important and potent one. It is 

 only necessary to compare the present position of 

 the Natural History sciences with that which existed 

 immediately before the publication of the Origin of 

 Species, to realise the greatness of Darwin's achieve- 

 ment. 



The fame of both Lyell and Darwin will endure, 

 and their names will remain as closely linked as were 

 the two men in their lives, the two devoted friends, 

 whose remains found a meet resting-place, almost 

 side by side, in the Abbey of Westminster. Very 



