VALUE OF DARWIN'S WORK 71 



The subsequent progress of events has amply justified 

 the peroration to the last lecture : — 



" . . . In conclusion, let me say that you may go away with 

 it as my mature conviction, that Mr. Darwin's work is the 

 greatest contribution which has been made to biological science 

 since the publication of the Regne Animal of Cuvier, and since 

 that of the History of Development of Von Baer. I believe that 

 if you strip it of its theoretical part it still remains one of the 

 greatest encyclopaedias of biological doctrine that any one man 

 ever brought forth; and I believe that, if you take it as the 

 embodiment of an hypothesis, it is destined to be the guide of 

 biological and psychological speculation for the next three or 

 four generations." 



