P1x THE DARWIN MEMORIAL 249 
natural knowledge. For, whatever be the ultimate 
verdict of posterity upon this or that opinion 
which Mr. Darwin has propounded; whatever 
adumbrations or anticipations of his doctrines may 
be found in the writings of his predecessors ; the 
broad fact remains that, since the publication and 
Species’ 
by reason of the publication, of “The Origin of 
’ the fundamental conceptions and the 
aims of the students of living Nature have been 
completely changed. From that work has sprung 
a great renewal, a true “ instauratio magna ” of the 
_ zoological and botanical sciences. 
But the impulse thus given to scientific thought 
rapidly spread beyond the ordinarily recognised 
limits of biology. Psychology, Ethics, Cosmology 
were stirred to their foundations, and the “ Origin 
of Species” proved itself to be the fixed point 
which the general doctrine of evolution needed in 
order to move the world. ‘ Darwinism,” in one 
form or another, sometimes strangely distorted 
and mutilated, became an everyday topic of men’s 
speech, the object of an abundance both of 
vituperation and of praise, more often than of 
serious study. 
It is curious now to remember how largely, at 
first, the objectors predominated ; but considering 
the usual fate of new views, it is still more 
curious to consider for how short a time‘the phase 
of vehement opposition lasted. Before twenty 
years had passed, not only had the importance of 
