2 FIFTY YEAKS OF DARWINISM 



the Origin ; and in strenuous and most efficient 

 defence after its appearance, Chauncey Wright 

 similarly represents Henry Fawcett. Fritz 

 Miiller not only actively defended Darwin, but 

 continually assisted him by the most admirable 

 and original observations carried out at his 

 Brazilian home. Turning to those who in some 

 important respects differed from Darwin, I do 

 not think a finer example of chivalrous con- 

 troversy can be found than that carried on 

 between him and Hyatt. The immense growth 

 of evolutionary teaching, in which John Fiske 

 played so important a part, although associated 

 with the name of Herbert Spencer, must not be 

 neglected on an occasion devoted to the memory 

 of Darwin. 



Outside the conflict which raged round the 

 Origin, we find Dana the only naturalist who 

 at first supported Darwin in his views on the 

 persistence of ocean basins and continental areas, 

 and Alexander Agassiz, for many years the 

 principal defender of the Darwinian theory of 

 coral islands and atolls. 



American Palaeontology, famed throughout the 

 world, has exercised a profound influence on 

 the growth and direction of evolutionary thought. 

 The scale and perfection of its splendid fossil 

 records have attracted the services of a large band 

 of the most eminent and successful labourers, of 

 whom I can only mention the leaders : Leidy, 

 Cope, Marsh, Osborn, and Scott, in the Verte- 



