3i8 SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER 



Wallace, he was the first, in fact, of the great group that stood 

 round Darwin, as he was the last of them to survive. 



The story of the joint communication of Darwin and of 

 Wallace to the Linnean Society " On the tendency of Species to 

 form Varieties, and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species 

 by Natural Means of Selection " will be fresh in the minds of 

 readers, for the fiftieth anniversary of the event was lately cele- 

 brated in London, It was Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Joseph 

 Hooker who jointly communicated the two papers to the society, 

 together with the evidence of the priority of Darwin in the 

 enquiry. Nothing could then have been more apposite than the 

 personal history which Sir Joseph gave at the Darwin-Wallace 

 celebration, held by the Linnean Society in 1908. He then 

 told, at first hand, the exact circumstances under which the joint 

 papers were produced. Nor could the expressions used by the 

 President (Dr Scott) when thanking Sir Joseph, and presenting to 

 him the Darwin-Wallace Medal, have been improved. He said : 

 " The incalculable benefit that your constant friendship, advice, 

 and alliance were to Mr Darwin himself, is summed uo in his 

 own words, used in 1864: 'You have represented for many years 

 the whole great public to me.' " The President then added : 

 " Of all men living it is to you more than to any other that the 

 great generalisation of Darwin and Wallace owes its triumph." 



The very last appearance of Hooker at any large public 

 gathering of biologists was at the centenary of Darwin's birth, 

 celebrated at Cambridge, in 1909. None who were there will 

 forget the tall figure of the veteran, aged, but still vigorous, with 

 vivacity in every feature. How gladly he accepted the con- 

 gratulations of his many friends, and how heartily he rejoiced 

 over the full acceptance of the theory he had himself done so 

 much to promote. The end came only two years later, in 

 December last. Many will have wished that the great group of 

 the protagonists of Evolution, Darwin, Lyell, and Hooker, 

 should have found their final resting-place together in West- 

 minster Abbey. But this was not to be. Personal and family 

 ties held him closer to Kew. And he lies there in classic ground 

 beside his father. 



Having thus sketched the intimate relations which subsisted 



