Section IV., 1909. [ 177 ] Trans. R. S. C. 



XII. — The Semi-Centemiial of the Origin of Species. — -The Presidential 

 Address in Section IV. 



By A. B. Macallum, Ph.D., Sc.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 



(Read May 25, 1909.) 



This year is to all who are concerned with the things of the mind 

 one which makes us pause to take stock of our acquirements as well as 

 of our mental impedimenta, for it is the fiftieth anniversary of the publi- 

 cation of " The Origin of Species." To the man on the street that does 

 not count for much but we who recognize at what cost ideas are won will 

 at once concede that it is our duty to scrutinize closely what we have 

 gained from it, to sift out what is only temporary, and thereby piepare 

 to take a distant view of the path along which we are yet to advance. 



That it is serviceable to take stock of our ideas will be denied by few. 

 It has been well said by Duclaux that Science advances because it is never 

 sure of anything, and the best way to stimulate that progress is to revise 

 constantly one's standards of intellectual values. Such revision comes 

 more readily, as on the present occasion, when after a sweep of years the 

 subject itself has lost some of the original associations which made at the 

 time its fate appear ambiguous and when in a clearer atmosphere the dis- 

 tortions which characterized the original setting of the subject have given 

 way to clear-cut, unchanging outlines and just propositions. Further, to 

 appreciate the past as well as the present form of a great idea helps us to 

 adjust sanely the ideas which are now in birth or development among us, 

 and we are thus enabled to view them as if we were in advance of our 

 time. 



There is another effect which follows from taking stock of what we 

 have won from our intellectual past. In all attempts to appraise the true 

 value of our intellectual heritage we do justice to and make worthy those 

 who in less auspicious times valiantly strove for truth. It is a custom of 

 ancient origin in the Chinese Empire to grant posthumous honours to 

 those who have done great service to the State, and it is without doubt 

 founded on the worship of ancestors. To the western mind it appears a 

 curious, bizarre custom, and to us to postulate a mental attitude that is 

 uncritical and approximates that usual in the childhood of a race ; but who 

 amongst us of the West does not pride himself on his ancestry if, in his 

 line of descent, there are one or more who in their day stood out from 

 "the dim common populations" and achieved distinction the record of 

 which is known and cherished. Is he then less worthy for whom a 

 later generation, not a King or Emperor, has in gratitude decreed a posi- 

 tion wliich ranks him with the illustriotis dead ? 



