THE FLOWERS OF EARLY JUNE. I. 147 
The independent discovery of the planet Neptune 
in 1846 by Adams and Leverrier by means of the dis- 
turbance it produces in the movements of Uranus will 
always be regarded as one of the most interesting events 
in the history of astronomy. Equal honors were justly 
awarded to both in 1848 by the council of the Royal 
Astronomical Society. Newton and Leibnitz were work- 
ing simultaneously on mathematical theories which led 
to the invention of the differential calculus. We may 
now forget the long and bitter controversy which fol- 
lowed to determine to which of the two belongs the 
right of claiming priority in this invention. 
While Darwin, by the advice of Lyell, was writing 
out his views on the tendency in organic beings de- 
scended from the same stock to diverge in character as 
they become modified, views afterwards embodied in his 
“The Origin of Species,” Wallace, who was then in the 
Malay Archipelago making his famous researches, sent 
him an essay ‘‘On the tendency of Varieties to depart 
indefinitely from the Original Type,” containing exactly 
the same views as his own. The modesty of both al- 
lowed no question of priority to disturb their ‘friendship 
and respect for each other. The 14th of February, 1876, 
must be memorable in the records of the United States 
Patent Office as the day on which Elisha Gray filed a 
caveat in regard to his own invention, and Alexander 
