BOTANICAL ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 165 
fern, the antheridia having been first seen by Nageli in 1844. 
Carpenter 6 gave me, many years after, a curious account of 
its reception. ‘At the Council of the Ray Society, at which,’ 
he said, ‘I advocated the reproduction of Suminski’s book 
on the “ Ferns,” I was assured that the close resemblance of 
the antherozoids to spermatozoa was quite sufficient proof 
that they could have nothing to do with vegetable repro- 
duction. ‘Ido not think,’ he added—and the complaint is 
pathetic—‘ that the men of the present generation, who have 
been brought up in the light, quite apprehend (in this as in 
other matters) the utter darkness in which we were then 
groping, or fully recognise the deserts of those who helped 
them to what they now enjoy.’ This was in 1875, and I 
suppose is not likely to be less true now. 
The Oxford Meeting in 1860 was the scene of the memor- 
able debate on the origin of species, at which it is interesting 
to remember that Henslow presided. On that occasion 
Section D. reached its meridian. The battle was Homeric. 
However little to the taste of its author, the launching of his 
great theory was, at any rate, dignified with a not inconsider- 
able explosion. It may be that it is not given to the men of 
our day to ruffle the dull level of public placidity with 
disturbing and far-reaching ideas. But if it were, I doubt 
whether we have, or need now, the fierce energy which 
inspired then either the attack or the defence. When we 
met again in Oxford last year the champion of the old con- 
flict stood in the place of honor, acclaimed of all men, a 
beautiful and venerable figure. We did not know then that 
that was to be his farewell. 
The battle was not in vain. Six years afterwards, at 
Nottingham, Sir Joseph Hooker delivered his classical 
lecture on Insular Floras. It implicitly accepted the new 
doctrine, and applied it with admirable effect to a field which 
had long waited for an illuminating principle. The lecture 
itself has since remained one of the corner-stones of that 
6 Memorial Sketch, 141. 
