390 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



LECTURES 



On the evening of Tuesday, January 10th, the President of the 

 Section (Professor C. C. Henderson, M.A.) delivered a lecture 

 in the Great Hall of the University before the Association, entitled 

 " The Mutation Theory of Evolution in History." 



Following is an abstract ; — 



The publication of Charles Darwin's " Origin of Species " in 

 1859 was the greatest event in the reign of Queen Victoria. The 

 idea of evolution, known to the ancient Greeks, was rediscovered 

 and put so plainly and convincingly that in less than a decade 

 principles of the doctrine of evolution were known even to people 

 who were without systematic scientific training. Not only in the 

 more strictly scientific world, but also throughout the realms of 

 learning generally, that book exercised an influence which can only 

 be described as stupendous. From 1870 onwards evolutionary 

 philosophy has pervaded all departments of intellectual activity, 

 and it has stimulated patient and painstaking research in all 

 directions. 



That research, extending now for over half a century since 

 the publication of the " Origin of Species," has so far justified 

 the conclusions of the great naturalist that his reputation as one 

 of the world's greatest thinkers is assured. He was great, how- 

 ever, not only because of the positive assertions which he made 

 in regard to evolution, but also because of the splendid restraint 

 which he exercised in the application of the principles he had 

 discovered. 



There are no reformers so ardent as newly-made converts, 

 and it has frequently happened in the history of mankind that 

 devoted pupils have evinced a ready disposition to apply the 

 master's principles in a much more thorough-going fashion than 

 that master himself dared to do. So it has been in the history 

 of evolution. Darwin recognised the possibility of change by 

 sudden and spontaneous production of new forms from the old 

 stock, as well as by the gi'adual accumulation of ever present and 

 ever fluctuating variations. Many of his followers have not only 

 emphasised the latter at the expense of the former method, but 

 they have also ventured to apply the principles of that theory to 

 the development of the political, social and spiritual history of 

 mankind. 



As a student of history I am convinced that they are wrong 

 in so doing, and it is on this point that I wish to engage your 

 attention this evening. Physical evolution, or evolution in the 

 organic world, is one thing ; psychical evolution or evolution of 

 human life and affairs is another and a very different thing. I 

 want to try and make as clear as I can, avoiding all technical 

 language wherever it is possible, that you cannot apply the current 

 theory of organic evolution to the history of the English people 

 or for that matter of any other race of human beings. 



