Anniversary Address. 433 



of praise and adoration. If the points in the plant which 

 thus impelled Linnaeus to an act of worship, had been the 

 results of a mere fortuitous concatenation of circumstances, 

 if he could not have connected them directly with a Divine 

 Intelligence, I fail to see how he could have recognised any 

 call from Nature to worship in her Temple. 



THE EVIDENCE. 



But, after all, it may be urged, and it constantly with 

 reason is, that when any scientific system is presented for 

 our acceptance, it must be considered on its own merits, and 

 judged by evidence sui generis. Science must be met by 

 science, it may be insisted, and not all by religious or per- 

 sonal considerations. If Darwinism, now or hereafter, can 

 bring in its hand credentials in the shape of evidence which 

 prove it to be true, we must accept it whether we like it or 

 not. Magna est Veritas, et prevalehit. It may be very un- 

 pleasant to me to hear that I am descended from an ape ; to 

 believe it may clash with my most sacred religious convic- 

 tions ; but if it can be shown that such is the case, the fact 

 will have an objective existence of its own, and quite inde- 

 pendent of, and unaffected by personal considerations. 



Now in order to understand the nature and strength of 

 the evidence which is adduced in support of Darwinism, 

 and of that by which it is confuted, a study of the literature 

 of the subject is indispensable. 



To enter now into the extensive and important question 

 of the evidence would be impossible ; and you may have 

 observed that I have purposely refrained from bringing it 

 forward, but a subject which has so important a bearing 

 upon our pursuits, will, I hope, be dealt with separately on 

 another occasion. 



Some of our members, no doubt, as I remarked at the out- 

 set, will already be conversant with much of the literature 

 and will have formed some definite opinions of their own. 

 I do not presume to advise such. But I do not think I am 

 wrong in assuming that a much larger number, both in our 

 Club and out of it, either have read very little or none, or 



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