THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



207 



stances, which may be regarded as acci- 

 dental, leading to this voyage. When 

 we remember that his contemporaries, 

 Huxley, Wallace and Hooker, were also 

 led to their scientific work by a voy- 

 age of exploration, we must regard it 

 as more than a mere incident in their 

 lives. 



It is truly remarkable that Christ's 

 College, smaller than the average of 

 our six hundred colleges and with no 

 higher standards as far as the require- 

 ments of the curriculum go, can cele- 

 brate the tercentenary of the birth of 

 Milton as well as the centenary of the 

 birth of Darwin; that Tennyson and 

 Darwin should have been fellow stu- 

 dents, and that Newton, perhaps Dar- 

 win's only rival for scientific preem- 

 inence, should have been a member .of 

 the same university. Darwin's grand- 

 father, Erasmus, was also a Cambridge 

 student, and three of his sons are inti- 

 mately connected with the university. 

 Cambridge may well be proud of its 

 great men and England of its great 

 university; and this feeling we may 

 share, remembering the descent of our 

 academic institutions from the new 

 Cambridge in New England. 



An English university is certainly 

 the place where a ceremonial such as 

 the Darwin centenary has the most fit 

 setting. To it came delegates from all 

 parts of the world, some 230 in num- 

 ber, leaders in all departments of sci- 

 ence and especially in the biological 

 and evolutionary sciences. Lord Ray- 

 leigh, formerly professor of physics and 

 now chancellor of the university, wel- 

 comed the guests to the Fitzwilliam 

 Musexim on the evening of June 22. 

 On the following day, there was a pres- 

 entation of addresses by the delegates 

 in the Senate House. After the address 

 of the chancellor speeches were made 

 by Professor Oscar Hertwig, of Berlin; 

 Professor Elie" Metchnikoff, of Paris; 

 Dr. Henry F. Osborn, of New York, 

 and Sir E. Ray Lankester. of London. 

 In concluding his remarks Dr. Osborn 

 said that they, the delegates, natural- 

 ists and friends, desired to present to 



Christ's College, as a memorial of their 

 visit, a portrait of Charles Darwin in 

 bronze, the work of their countryman, 

 William Couper, " a portrait which 

 they trusted would convey to this and 

 future generations of Cambridge stu- 

 dents, some impression of the rugged 

 simplicity as well as of the intellectual 

 grandeur of the man they revered and 

 honored." 



On Wednesday evening the delegates 

 and guests were entertained at a ban- 

 quet held in the New Examination 

 Hall, which was used for the first time 

 for a public purpose. Among the 

 speakers were the Right Hon. A. J. 

 Balfour, Dr. Svante Arrhenius, Pro- 

 fessor E. B. Poulton and Mr. William 

 Erasmus Darwin, eldest son of Charles 

 Darwin. On Thursday, the Rede lec- 

 ture was given by Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 president of the Royal Society, and 

 honorary degrees were conferred on a 

 number of delegates, including from 

 America Professor Jacques Loeb, of 

 the University of California; Secretary 

 Charles D. Walcott, of the Smithsonian 

 Institution and Professor Edmund B. 

 Wilson, of Columbia University. Dur- 

 ing the celebration there was an exhi- 

 bition held in Christ's College of pic- 

 tures, books, manuscripts and other 

 objects connected with Darwin, in- 

 cluding the portraits by Richmand, 

 Collier and Ouless, and the bronze bust 

 by William Couper, of New York, 

 which the American delegates pre- 

 sented to Christ's College. 



THE WINNIPEG MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION 

 The British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science takes seriously its 

 imperial functions. Four years ago it 

 migrated to South Africa, and now, for 

 the third time,, it is about to hold a 

 Canadian meeting and in the very cen- 

 ter of the great dominion. The British 

 Association has maintained its useful- 

 ness and prestige along the lines in 

 which it was originally established. 

 It is a great factor in the diffusion as 

 well as in the advancement of science. 



