IN MEMORIAM: CHARLES DARWIN 



mighty argument, of which the cumulative re- 

 sult was that the phenomena of the organic 

 world are unintelligible from beginning to end 

 save on the theory of " descent with modifica- 

 tions." Had Mr. Darwin done nothing but this, 

 it would have given him a peculiar right to as- 

 sociate his name with the development theory, 

 it would have established that theory on a basis 

 of " convincing probability," and it would have 

 entitled him to a high place in the history of 

 scientific thought in the nineteenth century. 

 But Mr. Darwin did not stop here. Convinced 

 by such considerations as those just presented 

 that the specific characters of plants and animals 

 are not constant, but variable, he sought for 

 some grand all-pervading cause of variation in 

 organisms, and his search was crowned with suc- 

 cess. This was the achievement which in his 

 hands raised the development theory from the 

 rank of a brilliant philosophical speculation into 

 the rank of an irrefragable scientific discovery. 

 This was the achievement which gave to man- 

 kind a new implement of research and a new 

 insight into the workings of Nature, and it was 

 this which justifies us in placing Mr. Darwin's 

 name beside those of Newton and Descartes. 



The method by which Mr. Darwin succeeded 

 In discovering the cause of variation in organisms 

 <vas the thoroughly scientific method of advan- 

 cing tentatively from the known to the unknown. 

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