PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, B.A. 1871. 203 



which now inhabit it, the step is prodigious ; yet, 

 according to the doctrine of continuity, most ably 

 laid before the Association by a predecessor in 

 this Chair (Mr. Grove), all creatures now living on 

 earth have proceeded by orderly evolution from 

 some such origin. Darwin concludes his great 

 work on " The Origin of Species " with the follow- 

 ing words : " It is interesting to contemplate an 

 " entangled bank clothed with many plants of 

 " many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, 

 " with various insects flitting about, and with 

 " worms crawling through the damp earth, and to 

 " reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, 

 " so different from each other, and dependent on 

 " each other in so complex a manner, have all 

 " been produced by laws acting around us." .... 

 " There is grandeur in this view of life with its 

 " several powers, having been originally breathed 

 " by the Creator into a few forms or into one ; and 

 " that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on 

 " according to the fixed law of gravity, from so 

 simple a beginning endless forms, most beautiful 

 " and most wonderful, have been and are being 



