250 Luck, or Cunning ? 
part in the attempt to further this; Mr. Darwin was per- 
fectly innocent of any intention of getting rid of mind, and 
did not, probably, care the toss of sixpence whether 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 distinctive feature was an ad- 
junct 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 alone should concern us. The answer is, that if 
the question is so merely personal and unimportant, Mr. 
Darwin may as well yield as Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and 
Lamarck; Mr. Darwin’s admirers find no difficulty in 
appreciating the importance of a 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 
messteurys les Charles- Darwiniens commencent. Mr. Dar- 
win will have a crown sufficient for any ordinary brow 
remaining in the achievement of having done more than 
any other writer, living or dead, to popularise evolution. 
This much may be ungrudgingly conceded to him, but more 
than this those who have his scientific position most at 
heart will be well advised if they cease henceforth to 
demand. 
