PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 28 



a greater revolution in human thought within a quarter 

 of a century than any other man of our time — or perhaps, 

 of any time — and has given what is proving the death 

 blow to theological systems which had been clinging yet 

 more tenaciously about men's shoulders, because of the 

 effort to shake them off; but, as a man, he exemplified in 

 his own life that true religion which is deeper, wider, and 

 loftier than any theology. 



Although Darwin's views were generally at first received 

 with fierce hostility, he had very strong supporters, among 

 the most distinguished of whom were Hooker, Huxley, 

 and Herbert Spencer, all shining lights of the Victorian 

 Era. Hooker's adherence is well seen in the very interest- 

 ing "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," by his son, 

 Francis Darwin, now himself one of our most distinguished 

 living botanists. Huxley's [Plate III.] "Man's Place in 

 Nature " and " Coming of Age of the Origin of Species," 

 and his many other lucid essays and writings, form a 

 lasting monument of research, and are of themselves 

 almost a liberal biological education. 



Herbert Spencer [Plate III.] has been properly called a 

 Darwinian before Darwin, and from an article which he 

 wrote in the Leader newspaper in 1852, on the " Develop- 

 ment Hypothesis," and recently quoted by Clodd in his 

 excellent little book, "Pioneers of Evolution," as well as 

 from several other articles published up to 1858, before his 

 " Synthetic Philosophy" appeared, it is clear that Spencer 

 had formulated his theory of evolution, as a whole, before 

 Darwin propounded his great work dealing with organic 

 evolution only. 



A most important question in close relation with the 

 Darwinian theory, and one likely to occupy the attention 

 of biologists for some time to come, is that advanced by 

 Professor Weismann Plate IV.l of the non-inheritance 



