IX 
THE DEBT OF SCIENCE TO DARWIN 
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authorities rank him far above the greatest names in natural 
science — above Linnaeus and Cuvier, the great teachers of a 
past generation — above Dc Candolle and Agassiz, Owen and 
Huxley, in our own times. Many must feel inclined to ask,' — 
What is the secret of this lofty pre-eminence so freely accorded 
to a contemporary by his fellow-workers ? What has Darwin 
done, that even those who most strongly oppose his theories 
rarely suggest that he is overrated 1 Why is it universally felt 
that the only name with which his can be compared in the 
whole domain of science is that of the illustrious Newton? 
It will be my endeavour in the present chapter to answer 
these questions, however imperfectly, by giving a connected 
sketch of the work which Darwin did, the discoveries which 
he made, the new fields of research which he opened up, the 
new conceptions of nature which he has given us. Such a 
sketch may help to clear away some of the obscurity which 
undoubtedly prevails as to the cause and foundation of 
Darwin’s pre-eminence. 
In order to understand the vast and fundamental change 
effected by the publication of Darwin’s most important 
volume — The Origin of Species — we must take a hasty glance 
at the progress of the science of natural history during the 
preceding century. 
The Century before Darwin 
Almost exactly a hundred years before Darwin we find 
Linnaeus and his numerous disciples hard at work describing 
and naming all animals and plants then discovered, and 
classifying them according to the artificial method of the 
great master, which is still known as the Linnaean System ; 
and from that time to the present day a large proportion of 
naturalists are fully occupied with this labour of describing 
new species and new genera, and in classifying them 
according to the improved and more natural systems which 
have been gradually introduced. 
But another body of students have always been dis- 
satisfied with this superficial mode of studying externals 
only, and have devoted themselves to a minute examination 
of the internal structure of animals and plants ; and early in 
this century the great Cuvier showed how this knowledge of 
