462 Proceedings. 



Augiist, 1870, and published in the third volume of the Transactions. 

 Another paper, by Dr. Barker, entitled " Continuous Creation versus Dar- 

 winian Evolution," evidently the result of much reading and thought, naturally 

 excited a good deal of discussion, as it treats of a subject of the deepest 

 interest, which at present engages the attention of some of the profoundest 

 thinkers of the day. 



Whatever opinion may be formed of the theory propounded by Mr. 

 Darwin, most persons will agree that science is indebted to him for the facts 

 which he has collected, and for the great amount of information which he 

 brings to bear upon his subject, as well as for his candour and fairness in 

 stating and supporting his views. 



We must always bear in mind that two classes of workers are necessary 

 for the advancement of science, namely, those who collect facts and those who 

 deduce general conclusions from those facts. It has often been said that fact 

 is worth more than theory, and it is of course true that the value of theory 

 depends on the extent to which it is founded on fact — but both have important 

 uses in the elucidation of truth. An ingenious theory, though not altogether 

 sound, may be the means of attracting and setting to work minds of different 

 schools of thought, and by the help of the light thus let in from various 

 sources, truths may be arrived at which otherwise might have remained long 

 undiscovered. To quote the eloquent language of Sir John Herschel, in his 

 " Introduction to the Outlines of Astronomy," " No grand practical result of 

 human industry, genius, or meditation, has sprung forth entire and complete 

 from the master hand or mind of an individual designer, working straight to 

 its object, and foreseeing and providing for all details. As in the building of a 

 great city, so in every such project the historian has to record rude beginnings, 

 circuitous and inadequate plans, frequent demolition, renewal, and rectification, 

 the perpetual removal of much cumbrous and unsightly material and scaffold- 

 ing, and constant opening out of wider and grander conceptions, till at length 

 a unity and a nobility is attained, little dreamed of in the imagination of the 

 first projector. * -;? ;^ js^^ Tdsji can rise from ignorance to 



anything deserving to be called a complete grasp of any considerable branch of 

 science without receiving and discarding in succession many crude and incom- 

 plete notions, which so far from injuring the truth in its ultimate reception, 

 act as positive aids to its attainment by acquainting him with the symptoms 

 of an insecure footing in his progress. To reach from the plain the loftiest 

 summits of an alpine country many inferior eminences have to be scaled and 

 relinquished ; but the labour is not lost. The region is unfolded in its closer 

 recesses, and the grand panorama which opens from aloft is all the better 

 understood and the more enjoyed for the very misconception in detail which it 

 rectifies and explains." 



