ORIGINAL MEMBERS. 115 



copy of the sale-catalogue. Another instance may be given, 

 viz., when Dr. BoAvdler Sharpe was writing the •' History of 

 the Collection of Birds in the British Museum/ Newton was 

 able to lend him a copy of the sale-catalogue of Bullock's 

 Collection, of which only two copies are known. The same 

 authority also informs us that the naturalists visiting 

 Cambridge, at the time of the International Ornithological 

 Congress of 1905, greatly enjoyed an inspection of his 

 literary curiosities, including his library of rare and choice 

 ornithological works. These with many other treasures have 

 been bequeathed to the University of Cambridge. 



As the author of an article entitled " The Early Days of 

 Darwinism '^ (Macmillan's Magazine, 1888), Prof. Newton's 

 views on the subject of " Organic Evolution " are not without 

 interest. He is said to have been an early convert, but in 

 point of fact he was in a condition ready for conversion 

 some time before the appearance of the ' Origin of Species ' 

 (in the autumn of 1859). Both he and his philosophic 

 friend, Wolley, had concluded that the idea, then jjrevalent, 

 of special creations was out of harmony with the facts they 

 had been observing for many years. Wolley died just about 

 the time when Darwin's book came out; but Newton at 

 once perceived that Darwin's explanation went a long way 

 towards solving his own difficulties, and he simply adopted 

 the new philosophy, not being in need of conversion. In 

 the above-mentioned article he has told the story very Avell, 

 and his narrative of events at Oxford in 1860 provides an 

 excellent account of that memorable meeting. 



His familiar figure will be missed for many a year at Cam- 

 bridge, for though Newton had ceased to lecture, he continued 

 to work at his collections, and to exercise that social influence 

 in his College and in the Unix ersity which so endeared him 

 to more than one generation of students. On the whole, 

 he may be considered to have been fortunate in the period 

 Avherein his lot was cast — a period when increased facilities 

 for travel w^ere opening out regions hitherto inaccessible to 

 the explorer and the naturalist. For instance, he lived to 

 see the veil lilted from such countries as Central Asia and 



