lO 



NATURE 



[July i, 1909 



claimed for it of being the main means of the modification 

 of organic forms. 



Our admiration for the vast series of beautiful observa- 

 tions and interesting inquiries carried out by Darwin 

 during his long life must not lead us to forget that they 

 were devised by him in order to test the truth of his 

 theory and to meet objections to it, and that they were 

 triumphantly successful. 'They, together with the work 

 of .'\lfred Russel Wallace and many of thsir followers, 

 have more and more firmly established Dai win's theory. 

 On the other hand, no attempt to amend that theory in 

 any essential particular has been successful. 



The nature of organic variation and of the character of 

 the variations upon which natural selection can and does 

 act was not, as we are sometimes asked to believe, 

 neglected or misapprehended by Darwin. The notion that 

 these variations are large and sudden was considered by 

 him, and for reasons set forth by him at considerable 

 length rejected. That notion has in recent years been 

 resuscitated, but its truth has not been rendered probable 

 by evidence either of such an accurate character or of 

 such pertinence as would justify the rejection of Darwin's 

 fundamental conception of the importance of minute and 

 ubiquitous variations. 



Further, in regard to the important facts of heredity 

 connected with the cross-breeding of cultivated varieties, 

 especially in regard to the blending or non-blending of 

 their characters in their offspring and as to prepotency, 

 it sevems to me important that we should now and here 

 call to mind the full and careful consideration given to 

 this subject by Darwin. We cannot doubt that he would 

 have been deeply interested in the numerical and statistical 

 results associated with the name of Mendel. Those results 

 tend to throw light on the mechanisms concerned in 

 hereditary transmission, but it cannot be shown that they 

 are opposed in anv way to the truth of Darwin's great 

 theoretical structure — his doctrine of the origin of species. 



It has often been urged against Darwin tliat he did 

 not explain the origin of variation, and especially that 

 he has Jiot shown how variations of sufficient moment to 

 be selected for preservation in the struggle for existence 

 have in the first place originated. The brief reply to the 

 first objection is that variation is a common attribute of 

 many natural substances of which living matter is only 

 one. In regard to the second point, I desire to remind 

 this assembly that Darwin described with special emphasis 

 instances of what he calls "correlated variability." In 

 my opinion he has thus furnished the key to the ex- 

 planation of what are called useless specific characters 

 and of incipient organs. That key consists in the fact 

 that a general physiological property or character of utility 

 is often selected and perpetuated, which carries with it 

 distinct, even remote, correlated growths and peculiarities 

 obvious to our eyes, yet having no functional value. At 

 a later stage in the history of such a form these correlated 

 growths may acquire value and become the subject of 

 selection. 



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 Cam- 

 bridge. 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 Uni- 

 versitv 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 admira- 

 tion and reverence. Darwin was not, like so many a dis- 

 tinguished son of Cambridge, a scholar or a fellow of his 

 college, nor a professor of the University. His connection 

 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 pro- 

 fessional 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 

 NO. 2070, VOL. 81] 



countrv, and to cultivate liis 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, 

 Charles Lyell, had a few years earlier entered at Exeter 

 College, and bv happv chance fallen under the influence 

 of the enthusiastic Buckland, the University reader in 

 geologv and a Canon of Christ Church. The wise freedom 

 of study permitted and provided for in those long-passed 

 days by Oxford and Cambridge is what has given the right 

 to claim the discovery, if not the making, of Lyell to the 

 one and of Darwin to the other. 



Darwin's love of living nature and of the country life 

 are especially English characteristics ; so, too, I venture 

 to think, are the unflinching determination and simple 

 courage — I mav even sav the audacity — with which he 

 acquired, after he had left the University, the wide range 

 of detailed knowledge in various branches of science which 

 he found necessary in order to deal with the problem of 

 the origin of the species of plants and animals, the in- 

 vestigation of which became his passion. 



The unselfish generosity and delicacy of feeling which 

 marked Darwin's relations with a younger naturalist. 

 Alfred Russel Wallace, are known to all. I cannot let 

 this occasion pass without citing those words of his which 

 tell us most clearly what manner of man he was and add 

 to his splendid achievements as an intellectual force — a 

 light and a beauty of which every Englishman must be 

 proud. When in old age he surveyed his life's W'ork he 

 wrote : — " I believe that I have acted rightly in steadilv 

 following and devoting my life to science." 



To have desired to act " rightly " and to be able to 

 think of success in life as measured by the fulfilment or 

 that desire is the indication and warrant of true great- 

 ness of character. We Englishmen have ever loved to 

 recognise this noble kind of devotion in our national 

 heroes. 



In connection with the celebrition, several lenrned 

 bodies conferred honours upon the Chancellor, and 

 upon Mr. Francis Darwin, F.R..S., and Sir George 

 Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S. Among these marks of 

 recognition were the followincj : — Lord Rayleigh 

 (Chancellor), correspondintf member of the Senken- 

 bergische Nattirforschende Gesellschaft, Frankfurt-am- 

 Main, and honorary member of the University of 

 Moscow; Mr. Francis Darwin, meiriber of the 

 American Philosophical Society, foreign member of 

 the Soci^te Hollandaise des Sciences, corresponding 

 member of the Senkenbergische Xaturforschende 

 Gesellschaft, Frankfurt-am-Main, honorary member of 

 the Soc. CcES. Naturte Curiosorum, Moscow, honorary 

 member of the L'niversitv of Moscow, and Fellow of 

 the Kaiserliche Leopoldinisch-Carolinische Deutsche 

 .Akademie der Naturforscher, Halle; .Sir George 

 Darwin, corresponding member of the Senken- 

 bergische Xaturforschende Gesellschaft, honorary 

 member of the Soc. Caes. Naturae Curiosorum, 

 Moscow, honorary member of the University of 

 Moscow-, and Fellow of the Kaiserliche Leopoldinisch- 

 Carolinische Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher, 

 Halle. 



Speeches .at the B.\nquet. 



At the banquet on June 23 Mr. Balfour and Prof. 

 Svante .■Xrrhenius proposed the toast which was drunk 

 in silence to the memory of Darwin. In the course 

 of his remarks Mr. Balfour said : — 



Charles Darwin's performances have now become part 

 of the common intellectual inheritance of every man of 

 education wherever he lives or whatever his occupation or 



