308 EETIKEMENT, TO 1897 : DAKWINIANA, ETC. 



short, the puppet of Natural Selection. I was, however, 

 soon confronted with the truth, that I was by no means 

 ' the Survivor of the fittest ! ' I have said that my father 

 and grandfather were both Botanists, and singularly enough 

 they both began their studies with the Mosses, quite inde- 

 pendently of one another ; and my friend Mr. Galton, whom 

 I am glad to see here, may be interested to know that I am 

 a born Muscologist. 



He referred, as he always gratefully referred, to his father's 

 influence in launching him on his career ; then added : 



I have one more advantage to record, and it is the greatest 

 of all, it. was the friendship and encouragement, for forty 

 years of my life, of a man to whom I looked up, as the Pole 

 Star and Lode Stone of my scientific life. The name of 

 that man is uppermost in the thoughts of every one here. 

 It is Charles Darwin. 



The conclusion of his speech ran as follows : 



Mr. President, I have exceeded all bounds already, but 

 if I may be allowed a few minutes longer, I would, taking 

 advantage of the patriarchal age which your treasurer has 

 assigned to me, say a few words for the encouragement of 

 the younger scientific men here present. A septuagenarian 

 may indulge in retrospection ; indeed it comes natural to 

 him to do so ; and when I heard of the award of the Copley 

 Medal to me, I could not but ask myself to what quality or 

 exceptional condition of mind I could attribute it that I 

 had attained to so unique an honour. Heredity, early 

 training, advantages, opportunities, experiences, and even 

 research itself, are fruitless, if there is not some inward 

 motive power to compel us to exercise our faculties, and some 

 inward heat, some fervour, to ripen the fruits of our labours 

 I can truly say that I am conscious of no genius, exceptional 

 powers or talent ; but I have a talent, and it is one that is 

 possessed by every one in this room, and by many I hope in 

 greater degree than I possess it. It is not talent in the 

 modern meaning of the word, but in the old French meaning 

 of wish or will, and I cannot better express the sense in which 

 I possess it, and you all possess it, than in the words of a 

 very modest motto adopted for his rule in life, by a very great 



