MR. BALFOUR. 



showed himself one of the most masterly investigators,, 

 proved himself to have the power of the loving investigation 

 of natural phenomena; showed himself to be able to cast a 

 new and an original light upon facts the most commonplace 

 and the most familiar, and to elicit from them lessons which 

 "men of science must always value quite apart from the 

 great uses to which his genius was able to put them ? It 

 is, I think, satisfactory to see that in order to gain a place 

 second to none in the growing list of great men of science, it 

 is not merely necessary to have the power of ingenious 

 generalisation which is given to many, to some who have not 

 other powers. Darwin's great achievement was due to the 

 fact that with this power of generalisation, and ancillary to it, 

 he had the power of investigation, the power of seeing the 

 problems that required solution in the world in which he lived, 

 which, so far as I know, has seldom been equalled, and 

 certainly never been surpassed in the biography of great 

 men of science. I cannot conclude without saying some- 

 thing about Charles Darwin the man, as well as Charles 

 Darwin, the great man of science. Some of us I am proud 

 to think I am one among many in this room knew Charles 

 Darwin personally. Those who had not that great honour 

 and that great pleasure have the next best thing to it 

 in the biography, which reveals the man as clearly as 

 printed matter can reveal living human personality. I 

 am sure I am not in the least going beyond the bare 

 and naked truth when I say that quite apart from his 

 great scientific achievement, there never lived a man more 

 worthy of respect and more worthy of love than this 

 great naturalist. From the very nature of the case his 

 great generalisation, from the very fact of its magnitude, 

 produced, as was inevitable, violent controversy, and 

 human nature in 1859 and 1860 was not different from 

 human nature in 1909, and violent controversy then, as 

 now, was prolific, and must be prolific, in misrepre- 

 sentation. So far as I am aware no misrepresentation 

 moved that equable temperament. Darwin never was 

 betrayed into uncharitable observations ; he never was 

 embittered by any controversy, however unfair, but he 



