46 FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 



aware of the widespread large variations upon 

 which the mutationist relies. He had the mate- 

 rial before him, he formed his judgment upon it, 

 and on this memorable day it seems specially 

 appropriate to show how extraordinarily sure his 

 scientific instincts were wont to be. This will 

 be made clear by a few examples of the solution 

 which Darwin found for problems which at the 

 time had either not been attempted at all or had 

 been very differently interpreted. 



Darwin's explanation of coral islands and 

 atolls, at first generally accepted, was afterwards 

 called in question. Finally, the conclusive test 

 of a deep boring entirely confirmed the original 

 theory. Perhaps the most remarkable case is 

 that of the permanence of ocean basins and con- 

 tinental areas, a view which Darwin maintained 

 single-handed in Europe, although supported by 

 Dana in America, against Lyell, Forbes, Wal- 

 lace, Hooker, and all others who had written on 

 the subject. Darwin considered it mere waste 

 of time to speculate about the origin of life; 

 we might as well, he said, speculate about the 

 origin of matter. Nothing hitherto discovered 

 has shaken this opinion, which is expressed al- 

 most in Darwin's words in Professor Arrhenius' 

 recent work.^ In the fascinating subject of geo- 

 graphical distribution we now know that Darwin 

 anticipated Edward Forbes in explaining the 

 alpine arctic forms as relics of the glacial period, 



' Worlds in the Making. English translation, London, p. 190. 



