LINNEAN SOCIKTV OF r.ONDON. 



29 



emphatically designated as that of Bentham ; for within its limits 

 very nearly all his numerous contributions to our publications 

 appeared, and for the last thirteen years of it he was our President, 

 From the broader biological standpoint, it is memorable as including 

 the dawn of the evolutionary epoch. Undoubtedly the greatest 

 eveut in its annals, or indeed in the entire history of the Society, 

 is the reading, at the meeting on July 1, 1858, of three short, 

 unpretentious documents : the first, an ' Extract from an un- 

 published Work on Species, by C. Darwin, Esq., consisting of a 

 portion of a Chapter entitled " On the Variation of Organic Beings 

 in a state of Nature ; on the Natural Means of Selection ; on the 

 Comparison of Domestic Races and true Species " ' ; the second, an 

 ' Abstract of a letter from C. Darwin, Esq., to Prof. Asa Gray ' ; 

 the third, a short paper ' On the Tendency of Varieties to depart 

 indefinitely from tho Original Type,' by Alfred Russel Wallace. 

 Never before or since, I may venture to say, has the announcement 

 of a great scientific generalization been attended with less pomp 

 and circumstance. These documents are to be found recorded in 

 the zoological portion of vol. iii., 1859, of the " Journal of the 

 Proceedings of the Linnean Society," and we may well congratulate 

 ourselves that they are numbered among our publications. Though 

 officially classified under ' Zoology,' these communications belong, 

 both as to their antecedents and their results, as much to Botany as 

 to the sister science. Their publication was in no small degree 

 due to the initiative of Sir Joseph Hooker ; and their new doctrines 

 were assimilated quite as readily, if not more so, by botanists as 

 by zoologists. It is of interest to remember that at that very time 

 a long and important paper by Bentham, treating of the species 

 and genera of plants on the assumption of the immutability of 

 species, was in process of reading before the Society ; but it was 

 never published, though a fragment of it subsequently appeared in 

 the first volume of the " Natural History Review^ " (1861), Bentham 

 having given his adherence to the evolutionary theory. 



This period may be fitly described as a golden age of systematic 

 botany, so numerous and so distinguished are the names which 

 figure as contributors in this department. Eirst and foremost 

 stands that of Bentham. His papers in our publications, spread 

 over half a century (1834-1883), outnumber even those of Sir J. E. 

 Smith, and are undoubtedly of higher value. I do not feel that 

 this statement implies any reflection upon the ability of our 

 Founder ; for surely it can be no disparagement to take rank after 

 the greatest systematic botanist of our own country, one of the 

 greatest, indeed, that the world has known. 



It is not possible for me in the limited time at my disposal to 

 attempt a critical appreciation of Bentham's work, even were I 

 competent to do so ; nor is it necessary, for its value is universally 

 recognized. Moreover our " Proceedings " (1883-86) contain his 

 obituary notice with a full bibliography ; and in the Centenary 

 number (1887-8) is to be found an eloquent eulogium pronounced 

 by Sir Williani Thiselton-Dyer. I wilf only venture to mention 



