XXIV 



THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23, 



saved from the exactions of physical infirmity, for the nobler pursuit 

 of Socratic questioning. Sometimes he asked questions of men, he 

 was always asking questions of nature. Such an example of , 

 insatiable thirst for truth carries with it a profound influence for 

 good, not only in science but in all departments of thought and in 

 every-day affairs. Darwin's influence has been emphatically stimu- 

 lating and wholesome. But, for a moment, let us ask what if his 

 hypothesis which explains so much, but which from the nature of 

 the case is unprovable, should hereafter be replaced by some new 

 hypothesis on the whole more satisfactory? Of this at least we 

 are positive : what has been done in this revolution cannot be undone ; 

 we never can go back to the dogma of the constancy of species. 



It is worth while to reflect a moment upon an historical parallel 

 which has been often cited and which will always stand as an object 

 of comparison, namely, the discovery by Copernicus. Can we imag- 

 ine what our sensations would have been on the morning when it 

 was first seriously announced that the sun does not really rise, but 

 merely appears to do so because the revolving earth turns toward 

 it? It is difficult for us to realize the immensity of the shock of 

 being thus commanded to change our views as to the entire order 

 of the solar system. We should probably have resisted surrender 

 as long as possible. 



But, after a while, when it became clear that the hypothesis of 

 Copernicus explained most of the phenomena of the heavens satis- 

 factorily, we should have adjusted ourselves to the new conception, 

 although we should have retained some of our former expressions 

 in common speech, " the sun rises " and " the sun sets." 



Here and there diligent search may find some person who holds 

 that the accepted view as to the solar system is wholly wrong, and 

 who maintains with the ancients that the sun docs move and that 

 the earth is flat. 



But probably there is not today a single competent naturalist 

 who looks upon species as permanent or fixed. That dogma dis- 

 appeared when the Darwinian hypothesis compelled the scientific 

 world to reexamine the subject in the light of variation. That revo- 

 lution in natural science has been complete. 



