2 Unconscious Memory 



connection with the repeal of the Corn Laws than do those of 

 Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace in connection with the general 

 acceptance of the theory of evolution. There is no living 

 philosopher who has anything like Mr. Darwin's popu- 

 larity with Englishmen generally ; and not only this, but 

 his power of fascination extends all over Europe, and in- 

 deed in every country in which civilisation has obtained a 

 footing : not among the illiterate masses, though these are 

 rapidly following the suit of the educated classes, but among 

 experts and those who are most capable of judging. France, 

 indeed — the country of Buffon and Lamarck — must be 

 counted an exception to the general rule, but in England 

 and Germany there are few men of scientific reputation 

 who do not accept Mr. Darwin as the founder of what is 

 commonly called " Darwinism," and regard him as per- 

 haps the most penetrative and profound philosopher of 

 modern times. 



To quote an example from the last few weeks only,i I 

 have observed that Professor Huxley has celebrated the 

 twenty-first year since the " Origin of Species " was pub- 

 lished by a lecture at the Royal Institution, and am told 

 that he described Mr. Darwin's candour as something 

 actually " terrible " (I give Professor Huxley's own word, 

 as reported by one who heard it) ; and on opening a small 

 book entitled " Degeneration," by Professor Ray Lan- 

 kester, published a few days before these lines were written, 

 I find the following passage amid more that is to the same 

 purport : — 



"Suddenly one of those great guesses which occasionally 

 appear in the history of science was given to the science of 

 biology by the imaginative insight of that greatest of living 

 naturalists — I would say that greatest of living men— Charles 

 Darwin." — Degeneration, p. lo. 



This is very strong language, but it is hardly stronger 

 than that habitually employed by the leading men of 

 science when they speak of Mr. Darwin. To go farther 



1 May 1880. 



