THE DARWIN CENTENARY. 



229 



had met to celebrate the Centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and 

 the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of ' The Origin of Species.' He 

 was old enough to remember something of the stir caused by the latter 

 event. To many the results of Darwin's speculations were unwelcome, and 

 probably remained so, at least in their application to the origin of man. 

 Fifty years ago it would have seemed a bold prophecy to predict that 

 day's celebration. They might perhaps take it as proving that Cambridge 

 was not held so fast in the bonds of Medievalism as some would have 

 them suppose. They were prepared to face whatever strict methods of 

 investigation might teach to be the truth. He need not remind them 

 that on many important questions raised by Darwin's labours opinions 

 still differed, and he imagined that Darwin would hardly recognize as 

 disciples some of the distinguished biologists who were met to do honour 

 to his name. But what appealed to all was the character of the man, loved 

 by everyone with a spark of the scientific flame. It was a pleasure and a 

 stimulus to think of him working on in spite of ill-health in his study, 

 his garden, and his hothouses ; and from his retirement moving the minds 

 of thinking men in a manner almost without parallel. He was struck, as 

 were others, with Darwin's wonderful modesty. This characteristic 

 remained to the end. During the last generation Cambridge, especially 

 since the time of Michael Foster, had been active in biological work. At 

 the present time it was desired to establish a chair of Genetics, a subject 

 associated with the name of Darwin and of his relative Francis Galton, 

 and of the greatest possible importance, whether it be regarded from the 

 purely scientific or from the practical side. He would like to think that 

 the interest aroused by the celebration would have a practical outcome in 

 better provision for the further cultivation in Darwin's own, and his 

 son's, University of the field wherein Darwin laboured." 



After the Addresses had been presented by all the foreign delegates, 

 Professor Oscar Hertwig (Berlin) and Professor Metchnikoff (Paris) 

 delivered short Addresses as representatives of the Continent of Europe. 

 Professor Hertwig regarded Cambridge as the centre of Darwin's influence, 

 and referred to the immense effect of Darwinian thought upon the minds 

 of German scientists. Professor Metchnikoff similarly described the 

 effect and extent of Darwin's teaching in France. 



After the delivery of these two short speeches, the presentation of 

 Addresses from the British Colonies and British Isles followed. Professor 

 H. F. Osborne (President of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York City) then rose, and paid a tribute to the University of 

 Cambridge. " To no other institution in any country," he observed, 

 "could they turn with such a sense of filial gratitude. . . . Through 

 John Harvard of Emmanuel, Cambridge became the mother of their 

 colleges. . . . Noble offspring, too, of the many pious foundations of the 

 old University, of Trinity, of Christ's, were the great men such as 

 Harvey, Newton, Clerk-Maxwell, Balfour, and, above all, Darwin. ... To 

 them Darwin, more perhaps than to any other naturalist, seemed greatest 

 in the union of a high order of genius with rare simplicity and trans- 

 parency of thought. Dwelling on this lucid quality and on the vast 

 range of his observations, from the most minute to the grandest relations 

 in nature, did not the image arise of a perfected optical instrument, in 



