PER CONTRA. 29S 



the universe was instinct with, mind or no — what 

 he did care about was carrying off the palm in the 

 matter of descent with modification, and the distinc- 

 tive feature was an adjunct with which his nervous, 

 sensitive, Gladstonian nature would not allow him to 

 dispense. 



And why, it may be asked, should not the palm be 

 given to Mr. Darwin if he wanted it, and was at so 

 much pains to get it ? Why, if science is a kingdom 

 not of this world, make so much fuss about settling who 

 is entitled to what ? At best such questions are of 

 a sorry personal nature, that can- have little bearing 

 upon facts, and it is these that should alone concern us. 

 The answer is, that if the question is so merely 

 personal and unimportant, Mr. Darwin may as well 

 yiefd as Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck ; Mr. 

 Darwin's admirers find no difficulty in appreciating 

 the importance of the personal element as far as he is 

 concerned ; let them not wonder, then, if others, while 

 anxious to give him the laurels to which he is entitled, 

 are somewhat indignant at the attempt to crown him 

 with leaves that have been filched from the brows of 

 the great dead who went before him. Palmam qui 

 meruit ferat. The instinct which tells us that no man 

 in the scientific or literary world should claim more than 

 his due is an old and, I imagine, a wholesome one, and 

 if a scientific self-denying ordinance is demanded, we 

 may reply with justice, " Que messieurs les Oharles- 

 Darwiniens commencent." Mr. Darwin will have a 

 crown sufficient for any ordinary brow remaining in 

 the achievement of having done more than any other 



