THE LIFE AND WORK OF DARWIN 227 



the whole structure ; to knit together knowledge 

 from all sources ; to point out clearly what was the 

 real nature of these mysterious affinities between the 

 animals now living ; to render possible the concep- 

 tion of Natural History as one coherent whole ; to 

 show that the real bond was one of blood-relation- 

 ship, and that the differences between fossil and 

 living animals, which so impressed Cuvier, were not 

 difficulties in the way of such blood-relationship, but 

 necessary consequences of it ; to show men that 

 there was no need for them to invoke mysterious 

 agencies to effect they hardly knew what ; to show 

 them that all they had to do was to look about, to 

 follow Lyell's method, and see what was now 

 happening around them, in order to get the clue to 

 the past. 



Not merely has he changed the whole aspect of 

 biological science, giving it new aims and new 

 methods ; but the influence of his work has spread 

 far beyond its original limits. Principles and laws, 

 first established by him for biology, are now recog- 

 nised as applying to all departments of science, 

 indeed to all departments of knowledge ; and it is to 

 him that the phrase the " Unity of History" owes 

 its real significance. 



And if we are struck with the importance and 

 grandeur of the results obtained, so are we equally 

 impressed with the simplicity of the means by which 

 they were achieved. The lesson to be derived from 

 Darwin's life and work cannot be better expressed 

 than as the cumulative importance of infinitely little 

 things. 



