3 6 SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



" It is thus, as it seems to me, and as, I believe, to the 

 great body of my brother naturalists, that Darwin's theory 

 stands after fifty years of trial and application. 



" The greatness of Charles Darwin's work is, and will 

 be for ever, one of the glories of the University of 

 Cambridge. It is fitting on the present occasion that 

 one who speaks on behalf of English men of science 

 should call to mind the nature of his connection with this 

 great University and the peculiarly English features of 

 his life-story and of that fine character which endears his 

 memory to all of us as much as his genius excites our 

 admiration and reverence. Darwin was not, like so many 

 a distinguished son of Cambridge, a scholar or a fellow of 

 his college, nor a professor of the University. His con- 

 nection with the University and the influence which it had 

 upon his life belong to a tradition and a system which 

 have survived longer in our old English universities than 

 in those of other lands. Darwin entered the University, 

 not seeking a special course of study with the view of 

 professional training, nor aiming at success in competitive 

 examinations for honours and emolument. He came to 

 Cambridge intending to become a clergyman, but blessed 

 with sufficient means and leisure to enable him to pursue 

 his own devices, to collect beetles, to explore the fen 

 country, and to cultivate his love of nature. It was thus 

 that he became acquainted with that rare spirit Henslow, 

 the Cambridge professor of botany, and it is through 

 Henslow and the influence of his splendid abilities and 

 high personal character upon Darwin that Cambridge 

 acquired the right to claim the author of the ' Origin of 

 Species ' as a product of her beneficence and activity as 

 a seat of learning. 



" As an Oxford man and a member of Exeter College 

 I may remind this assembly that in precisely the same 

 way Darwin's dearest friend and elder brother in science, 



