136 HISTORY OF BOTANY 



find some one wiser than himself ; the same belief in the 

 sovereignty of reason ; the same ready humour ; the 

 same sympathetic interest in all the ways and works of 

 men. But instead of turning away from the problems 

 of Nature as hopelessly insoluble, our modern philosopher 

 devoted his whole hfe to attacking them in the spirit 

 of HeracUtus and of Democritus, with results which are 

 the substance of which their speculations were anti- 

 cipatory shadows. 



" The due appreciation, or even enumeration, of these 

 results is neither practicable nor desirable at this moment. 

 There is a time for all things — a time for glorying in our 

 ever extending conquests over the realm of Nature, and 

 a time for mourning over the heroes who have led us to 

 victory. 



" None have fought better, and none have been more 

 fortunate, than Charles Darwin. He found a great 

 truth trodden under foot, reviled by bigots, and ridiculed 

 by all the world ; he lived long enough to see it, chiefly 

 by his own efforts, irrefragably estabhshed in science, 

 inseparably incorporated with the common thoughts of 

 men, and only hated and feared by those who would 

 revile, but dare not. What shall a man desire more 

 than this ? Once more the image of Socrates rises 

 unbidden, and the noble peroration of the ' Apology ' 

 rings in our ears as if it were Charles Darwin's farewell : 



The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways — 



I to die and you to live. Which is the better, God only knows." 



