CHAKLES DARWIN. 83 



made more numerous and more important contributions than any 

 known botanist, for the very good reason that — as in all other 

 pursuits — he went below and behind mere classification and collec- 

 tion, and found out the hidden secrets of plant life ; not only 

 telling us the reasons of a multitude of well-known but unexplained 

 facts, but also bringing to light a vast array of hitherto unknown 

 life-histories in the plant domain. 



In 1862 the botanical world was at once surprised and de- 

 lighted by his volume on the Fertilization of Orchids, in which 

 are chronicled the results of almost endless experiments carried on 

 ^Yith the love of accuracy that so distinguished Darwin. The first 

 44 pages of this book no student of the science should leave un- 

 read, and I will answer for it that the remainder of the volume will 

 not be left unstudied. The whole treatise is an introduction into 

 a veritable " Fairy-land of Science," and we put it down with the 

 feeling that the wonderful flowers have been transformed into per- 

 sonal friends, a sentiment which, I believe, Darwin himself often 

 possessed. 



The Movements and Habits of Climbing Fla?its followed 

 in 1865, in which the evolution of the various ' cHmbers,' from 

 the earlier existing ' twiners,' and of ' tendril bearers ' from 

 * climbers,' is admirably worked out. The details of this paper I 

 have in a former paper placed under your notice. 



In 1868 appeared the two volumes called Variation of 

 Animals and Plants under Domestication, for the materials of 

 which the whole universe was literally ransacked. All the htera- 

 ture of agriculture and horticulture, of the breeding of horses, 

 cows, dogs, cats, fowls, and pigeons, besides an enormous list of 

 magazines, reviews, journals, newspapers, and treatises were laid 

 under contribution for the preparation of this work. It is utterly 

 impossible to do more than name it. 



Vr\ 1875, 1^76, and 1^77. with a rnparity (^'i production that 

 showed more than ever his fertility of resource, power of ob.-^(::r- 

 vation, unsurpassed accuracy, and care for detail, he gave us 

 Insectivorous Plants, The Effects of Ci'oss and Self Fertilization 

 in the Vegetable Kingdom, and Different Forms of Flowers on 

 Plants of the same Species. In the first we were told the story 

 of the Venus' Fly-trap, Sundew, Butterwort, Bladderwort, and 



