224 



miscellanea {continued). 



[I876-S2. 



of the Institute. It is rather a good joke that I should be 

 elected in the Botanical Section, as the extent of my know- 

 ledge is little more than that a daisy is a Compositous plant 

 and a pea a Leguminous one." 



In the early part of the same year he was elected a Corre- 

 sponding Member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and 

 lie wrote (March 12) to Professor Du Bois Reymond, who had 

 proposed him for election : — 



" I thank you sincerely for your most kind letter, in which 

 you announce the great honour conferred on me. The know- 

 ledge of the names of the illustrious men, who seconded the 

 proposal is even a greater pleasure to me than the honour itself." 



The seconders were Helmholtz, Peters, Ewald, Pringsheim 

 and Virchow. 



In 1879 he received the Baly Medal of the Royal College 

 of Physicians.* 



He received twenty-six votes out 

 of a possible 39, five blank papers 

 were sent in, and eight votes were 

 recorded for the other candidates. 



In 1872 an attempt had been 

 made to elect him to the Section of 

 Zoology, when, however, he only 

 received 15 out of 48 votes, and 

 Loven was chosen for the vacant 

 place. It appears (' Nature,' August 

 1, 1872), that an eminent member 

 of the Academy, wrote to Les 

 Mondes to the following effect : — 



" What has closed the doors of 

 the Academy to Mr. Darwin is that 

 the science of those of his books 

 which have made his chief title to 

 fame— the ' Origin of Species,' and 

 still more the ' Descent of Man,' is 

 not science, but a mass of assertions 

 and absolutely gratuitous hypo- 

 theses, often evidently fallacious. 

 This kind of publication and these 

 theories are a bad example, which 



a body that respects itself cannot 

 encourage." 



* The visit to London, necessi- 

 tated by the presentation of the 

 Baly Medal, was combined with a 

 visit to Miss Forster's house at 

 Abinger, in Surrey, and this was 

 the occasion of the following cha- 

 racteristic letter : — " I must write 

 a few words to thank you cordially 

 for lending us your house. It was 

 a most kind thought, and has 

 pleased me greatly ; but I know 

 well that I do not deserve such 

 kindness from any one. On the 

 other hand, no one can be too kind 

 to my dear wife, who is worth her 

 weight in gold many times over, 

 and she was anxious that I should 

 get some complete rest, and here 

 I cannot rest. Your house will be 

 a delightful haven, and again I 



thank you truly." 



