450 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
quiet and joyous life of the Darwin family testifies to the cheerful 
and affectionate disposition of its head. : 
It remains to estimate the influence of Darwin’s theories on his 
time and on the future. But this is a task for which a whole book 
would not be too much, and a task, moreover, which could be better 
accomplished on the two hundredth than on the one hundredth 
anniversary of his birth. 
We can at least say, however, that the influence was a great and 
many-sided one, and that it will endure throughout all time. All 
who know the position of science before 1859 will be ready to admit 
this; the younger generation have grown up so thoroughly under 
the influence of Darwin’s ideas that it must be difficult for them to 
realize the state of matters before his day. 
Let us speak of biology first. But was there a biology then? 
Strictly speaking, there was not; there was a zoology, botany, and 
even anthropology. Each of these sciences consisted of a very large 
- and well-arranged mass of facts, but with no intrinsic coherence 
among them. This was supplied by the theory of evolution. The 
different departments of science were not even then regarded as 
complete; it was well known that there were many gaps in our 
knowledge, but we were only seeking for missing details, whereas 
in reality it was the main thing that was lacking—the unifying idea 
which Goethe had sought for, and tried to supply in his theories of 
the plant prototype, and of the skull. 
The science of embryology, or, as we now call it, ontogenesis, at 
that time consisted of a great number of observations, interesting 
enough, but without any recognized unity; 1t was not a harmonious 
structure, but a collection of finely-cut building stones. But what 
a change when the luminous idea of evolution was added! Life 
seemed to be infused into the stones, and almost spontaneously they 
formed a magic edifice. The ovum, now at last recognized as a 
cell, was seen to be a reminiscence of the descent of all higher 
animals from unicellular organisms; rudimentary organs, such as the 
rudimentary eyes of blind cave animals, were found to be signposts 
indicating the racial history of these animals, and pointing back to 
their sight-endowed ancestors. This evolutionary view illuminated 
the whole science, and not embryology alone, but also “ compara- 
tive anatomy,” the understanding of the structure of animals. It 
became plain why the New Zealand kiwi should have little rudimen- 
tary wings under its skin, although it does not fly. It is not in order 
that it may conform to an ideal of a bird, as was previously thought, 
but because its ancestors had possessed wings which were used in 
flight. 
Physiology also gained much, especially the theory of reproduc- 
tion, of heredity, of organs, of the cell, and especially of the cell 
