ipM.] MINUTES. xvii 



authors were something more than interesting relators of what they 

 had seen. To them biological facts were only significant as indicat- 

 ing so many steps in the sequence of cause and effect. The genius 

 of Darwin was manifested in his ability to see clearly in the begin- 

 ning of his career the true direction in which the facts he had ob- 

 served pointed, so that his lifework was unified, one step leading 

 inevitably to another in the development of a great theory. It was 

 much the same with Hooker. The writings which mark him as a 

 philosophical botanist are the " Introductory Essay to the Flora of 

 Tasmania"; the "Essay on the Distribution of Arctic Plants"; the 

 " Discourse on Insular Floras " ; the address at York on " Geo- 

 graphical Distribution," and the " Essay on the Vegetation of India," 

 publications extending over a period of forty years. 



The study of plant distribution involving a consideration of the 

 geological phenomena which could account for it, and also of the 

 question as to the effect of altered environment in modifying the 

 characters of plants, naturally led to the fundamental question: 

 What are Species and what are Varieties? One who, like Hooker, 

 was master of the facts and without prejudice, could not fail to 

 recognize that species are not fixed creations, but transitional stages 

 in the progress of evolution. Hooker was a Darwinian even before 

 the appearance of the " Origin of Species." It has been said with 

 truth that, with the exception of Wallace, Hooker was the first 

 adherent of Darwin in his views on evolution. How much that 

 means is hardly realized at the present day. With us the question 

 is not whether there is such a thing as evolution in plants and ani- 

 mals. We accept evolution as a fact, and, if there be any question, 

 it is as to whether the explanation of the mode of its operation as 

 presented by Darwin was satisfactory in all its details. In 1859, 

 however, the date of the publication of the " Origin of Species," and 

 for a considerable number of years later it required a good deal of 

 courage as well as an unbiased mind for anyone, especially for an 

 Englishman, to declare his assent to the revolutionary views advanced 

 by Darwin. 



In closing I may be permitted to repeat the words describing the 

 position of Hooker among botanists on the occasion of the presen- 

 tation to him of the Linnean gold medal at Stockholm in 1907. 



