A Apptiton cfe Oompttnp^s PuhUcaihni. 



In ttig eountry there bas been a less ready acceptance of 

 these ideas ; but at the last meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, held at Troy, Darwin's 

 views figured prominently. Prof. Meehaos^ read a paper on one 

 branch of Darwin's researches, in which he had at first supposed 

 him in error, but at last found him to be right. In the subse- 

 quent discussion, Dr. Gray, the distinguished American bota- 

 nist, declared that " he had frequently attempted to catch Dar- 

 win tripping in this particular, and had referred to him many 

 instances vrhich he himself at the time considered opposed 

 to the theory ; but in every case he had been forced to with- 

 draw his objection." 



In Germany these views are also rapidly extending. They 

 are prominently discussed at all the scientific conventions, and 

 it is said they have been accepted much more cordially and un- 

 qualifiedly there than in England. 



Prof. GiEKiE, a distinguished British geologist, attended 

 the recent Congress of German Naturalists and Physicians, at 

 Innsbruck, in which some eight hundred savants were present, 

 and he thus describes the relation of the mind of Germany to 

 the views of the great English naturalist : 



" What specially struck me was the universal sway which 

 the writings of Darwin now exercise over the German mind. 

 You see it on every side, in private conversation, in printed 

 papers, in all the many sections into which such a meeting as 

 that at Innsbruck divides. Darwin's name is often mentioned, 

 and always with the profoundest veneration. But even where 

 no allusion is specially made to him, nay, even more markedly, 

 where such allusion is absent, we see how thoroughly his doc- 

 trines have permeated the scientific mind, even in those depart- 

 ments of knowledge which might seem at first sight to be far- 

 thest from natural history. ' You are still discussing in Eng- 

 land,' said a German friend to me, ' whether or not the theory 

 of Darwin can be true. We have got a long way beyond that 

 here. His theory is now our common starting-point.' And^ 

 so far as my expereince went, I found it to be so." 



