270 



EVOLU1ION 



Alfred Russel Wallace 



The Debt of Science to Darwin 



Reprinted with the permission of W. G. Wal- 

 lace and the publisliers from Natural selection 

 and tropical nature. London, Macmillan Co., 

 1895. 



The great man recently taken from 

 us had achieved an amount of reputa- 

 tion and honour perhaps never before 

 accorded to a contemporarv writer on 

 science. His name has given a new word 

 to several languages, and his genius is 

 acknowledged wherever civilization ex- 

 tends. Yet the very greatness of his 

 fame, together with the number, vari- 

 ety, and scientific importance of his 

 works, has caused him to be altogether 

 misapprehended by the bulk of the 

 reading public. The best scientific 

 authorities rank him far above the 

 greatest names in natural science — 

 above Linnaeus and Cuvier, the great 

 teachers of a past generation— above De 

 Candolle and Agassiz, Owen and Hux- 

 lev, in our own times. Manv must feel 

 inclined to ask— What is the secret of 

 this lofty pre-eminence so freely ac- 

 corded to a contcmporar)/ bv his fel- 

 low-workers? Wliat has Darwin done, 

 that even those who most strongly op- 



pose his theories rarely suggest that he 

 is overrated? Why is it universally felt 

 that the only name with which his can 

 be compared in the whole domain 

 of science is that of the illustrious 

 Newton? 



It will be my endeavor to answer 

 these questions, however imperfectly, 

 by giving a connected sketch of the 

 work which Danvin did, the discoxeries 

 which he made, the new fields of re- 

 search which he opened up, the new 

 conceptions of nature which he has 

 given us. 



THE CENTURY BEFORE DARWIN 



Almost exactly a hundred years be- 

 fore Darwin we find Linnaeus and his 

 numerous disciples hard at work de- 

 scribing and naming all animals and 

 plants then discovered, and chissif\ing 

 them according to the artificial method 

 of the great master, and from that time 



