IV 



THE THEORY OF CHANGE OF 

 FUNCTION 



WHEN asked to read the opening paper of the 

 second session of the Owens College Biological 

 Society, I felt that the subject most suitable for the 

 occasion would be one gathered from the works of 

 that great Englishman whose name it was at one 

 time proposed that this Society should bear ; that 

 prince of biologists who has taught us not to be 

 satisfied with a knowledge of facts but ' to seek 

 earnestly for the reason of these facts ; who has 

 taught us both what to seek and how to seek, and 

 who has thus rendered philosophical biology not 

 only a possibility but an actuality. 



In selecting the particular aspect of Mr. Darwin's 

 wonderful theory, to which I should draw your 

 attention, I have been influenced mainly by two cir- 

 cumstances. In the first place it appeared more 

 profitable, and therefore more likely to prove accept- 

 able to the Society, to select some portion to which 

 exception has been taken rather than one which has 



