II 



'WHAT IS A SIM'CIIIS?' 



The Prcsiilontial Address read al ilie Aiimial Meciiiii; (jf llic I'.nlonio- 

 logical Society of London, laiuiary 20, 1904. ivej>rinled from llie 

 Procecdini^s of ihe Society, H)0], \>. Ixxvii. 



KtTi'sai and moilijiiJ : satral parai^riiphs ddJid and several raurilten : 

 additional footnotes. 



Tin: late ProfL'ssor Max M tiller, in an eloc[uent speech 

 delivered at Reading in 1891, spoke of the necessity 

 of exaniiniiiL;, and, as time passes h)', re-examining the 

 meaning of words. He referred as an illustration to the 

 man at the railway station who taps the wheels with his 

 hammer, testino; whether each still rin<^s true or has 

 undergone some change that may mean disaster. In 

 almost the same wMy, the speaker maintained, a word 

 may slowly and unobtrusively change its meaning, be- 

 coming, unless critically tested to ascertain whether it 

 still rines true, a dam/er instead of an aid to clear think- 

 ing, a pitfall on the field of controversy. He then went 

 on to say, that 1 )arwin had written a great work upon 

 the Origin of Species, and had never once explained 

 what he meant by the word Species. So decided an 

 utterance — the statement was made emphatically — ought 

 to have involved a careful and critical search throuLrh the 

 pages of the work that was attacked. However this 

 may be, it is ([uite certain that the search was unsuccess- 

 ful ; and yet a few minutes' investigation brought me 

 to a passage in which the meaning attached by the author 

 to die term Species is set down in the clear, calm, and 

 simple language which did so much to convince an 

 unwilliui/ world. 



Darwin is speaking of the revolution which the accept- 

 ance of his views will bring about. ' Systematists will 

 be able to pursue their labours as at present ; but they 

 will not be incessantly haunted by the shadowy doubt 

 whether this or that forni be in essence a sjjecies. This 

 I feel sure, and I speak after experience, will be no slight 



