348 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the-way village in Kent. There, partly compelled by ill-health, he 

 dwelt as a recluse for forty years, serenely contemplating nature and 

 diligently gathering information, but seldom emerging into the world 

 from which his richly-stored and phenomenally creative intellect had 

 little to gain, but to which it never ceased to give, during the remainder 

 of his life. Bare knowledge he welcomed from any source, but opinions 

 and deductions he invariably produced for himself. What he wrote to 

 H. W. Bates, who complained of a want of advice, is true of Darwin 

 himself : " Part of your great originality of views," he said, " may be 

 due to the necessity of self -exertion of thought." What has been said 

 by his son Francis is equally true of Mr. Darwin — one of his most 

 striking characteristics was " that supreme power of seeing and thinking 

 what the rest of the world had overlooked." 



Mr. Darwin was what we are accustomed to call a genius, but I 

 know of no good definition of a genius but a man of insight. The per- 

 son who by his unaided mental vision is able to see into and through 

 problems which to other men are baffling or insoluble, has the highest 

 right to be considered inspired. Darwin's wonderful endowment in this 

 respect constituted him, by divine right, a leader of men. The world 

 has always justly honored its standard bearers and we are here to pay 

 homage to the name of one of the most attractive and commanding of 

 them all. In other parts of this city and of this land, our fellow-citizens 

 are gathering to-day to pay grateful tribute to the estimable character, 

 and to recall the memorable deeds of a great emancipator. We likewise 

 are celebrating the beneficent acts of a man, simple and modest as that 

 other, who, at a critical period, spoke courageous words which conferred 

 freedom on millions of his fellow creatures. It is altogether fitting 

 that the birthdays of these two benefactors should be the same. 



We now dedicate this monument in this approprite place not only 

 to the honor and memory of Charles Darwin the great thinker, whose 

 life and personality we admire, but also to the encouragement and 

 guidance of all who may hereafter frequent these halls — as a testimony 

 to the power of self-reliance and independence of mind which Charles 

 Darwin preeminently exemplified and illustrated. May this portrait of 

 a noble truth-seeker which we now unveil, signify, for all time to come, 

 to him who would advance the boundaries of scientific knowledge that 

 nature will yield up her secrets only when appealed to directly and in 

 humility and purity of spirit. 



