THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



415 



CELEBRATIONS IN HONOR OF THE 

 DARWIN CENTENARY 



The most notable celebrations of 

 Darwin's birth and of the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of the ■' Origin of Species " are 

 the exercises of the Linnean Society of 

 London, held on July 1 of last year, 

 and the celebrations to be held at Cam- 

 bridge in June next. The Darwin- 

 Wallace celebration of the Linnean So- 

 ciety was notea at the time in this 

 journal, and a reproduction was shown 

 of a medal struck in honor of the fif- 

 tieth anniversary of the presentation 

 to the society of the papers on 

 natural selection by Darwin and ^^'al- 

 lace. These papers were reproduced 

 in the issue of The Popular Science 

 Monthly for November, 1901. The 

 celebrations at Cambridge in June \\ill 

 last several days, and some three hun- 

 dred universities and learned societies 

 throughout the world will be repre- 

 sented by delegates. 



While, as is becoming, the two most 

 elaborate commemorations of the Dar- 

 win centenary have been arranged in 

 his own country, celebrations have been 

 more general in the United States than 

 in Great Britain. The most notable 

 exercises were arranged by the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement 

 of Science and held at Baltimore on 

 January 1. Professor E. B. Poulton, 

 probably the most distinguished living 

 representative of the theory of natural 

 selection, came from England as the 

 guest of the association to make the 



opening address, and this was followed 

 by a series of papers giving an account 

 of the state of research in the biolog- 

 ical sciences based on the doctrine of 

 evolution. These papers are about to 

 be published for the association in a 

 memorial volume by Messrs. Henry 

 Holt and Company. 



The commemorative exercises that 

 were perhaps next in interest were held 

 in New York City on Darwin's birth- 

 day. The New York Academy of Sci- 

 ences presented to the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural Historj- a heroic bust 

 of Darwin in bronze bj- Mr. William 

 Couper, illustrations of which are 

 reproduced in this number of the 

 Monthly. The addresses made on 

 this occasion are printed above. At 

 Columbia LTniversity, on the same day, 

 a series of lectures on Charles Darwin 

 and his influence on science was begun, 

 the opening address being printed in 

 this memorial issue. 



An equally notable series of lectures 

 on Darwin's influence is being given 

 at Chicago, and commemorative cere- 

 monies and addresses have been ar- 

 ranged not only in large centers, such 

 as Boston and Philadelphia, but also 

 at universities throughout the countrj\ 

 Ihese include Michigan, Cornell, Mis- 

 souri, Nebraska, Iowa, Iowa State Col- 

 lege, Georgia, Brown, Wesleyan and 

 other institutions. In some cases the 

 celebrations extended over several days 

 and as many as ten or more papers 

 and addresses were given. 



