Alfred Russel Wallace 



and of the meclianism by which that modification is brought 

 about — there is still great work in progress, still an abun- 

 dant field to be reaped. . . . Several able observers and ex- 

 perimenters have set themselves the task of improving, if 

 possible, the theoretical structure raised by Darwin and 

 Wallace. . . . But I venture to express the opinion that 

 they have none of them resulted in any serious modifica- 

 tion of the great doctrine submitted to the Linnean Society 

 on July 1st, 1858, by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel 

 Wallace. Not only do the main lines of the theory of 

 Darwin and Wallace remain unchanged, but the more it 

 is challenged by new suggestions and new hypotheses the 

 more brilliantly do th^ novelty, the importance, and the 

 permanent value of the work by those great men, to-day 

 commemorated by us, shine forth as the one great epoch- 

 making effort of human thought on this subject. 



Sir Francis Darwin and Sir William Thiselton-Dyer 

 spoke on behalf of Schools which had sent representatives 

 to the meeting; Prof. Lonnberg and Sir Archibald Geikie 

 on behalf of the Academies and Societies; while Lord 

 Avebury delivered the concluding address. 



Any summary of this period in the lives of Darwin and 

 Wallace would be incomplete without some distinct refer- 

 ence to one other name, namely, that of Herbert Spencer, 

 whom I have linked with them in the Introduction. 



While we owe to Darwin and Wallace a definite theory 

 of organic development, it must be remembered that Spencer 

 included this in the general scheme of Evolution which grew 

 as slowly but surely in his mind — and as independently as 

 did that of the origin of species in the minds of Darwin 

 and Wallace. Huxley recalls : '^ Within the ranks of 

 biologists, at that time, I met with nobody except Dr. 

 Grant, of University College, who had a word to say for 

 Evolution — and his advocacy was not calculated to advance 

 the cause. Outside these ranks, the only person known to 



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