330 Charles Darwin : a Farewell Offering. [June, 
overturning another vain antithesis, has restored man to his 
place in Nature. Who can exaggerate the philosophic im- 
port of this one result — the reversal of what had been 
attempted by Socrates and his followers, whether Pagan or 
Christian, mystics or dialecticians ? 
In one particular point Darwin’s example must be ever 
precious to the student. He never overlooked or despised 
small things. Inferior minds stray about in search of some 
grand, startling phenomenon, ready and willing, doubtless, 
to put it on record if it would only come in their way. But 
one of the secrets of Darwin’s strength was the convidtion 
that the continuous and ubiquitous aCtion of apparent trifles 
effects more than do exceptional and catastrophic displays 
of power. Never was this lesson exemplified in his whole 
life so ably taught as in his last book on earth-worms. 
He has been accused of a lack of originality, and even of 
injustice towards his forerunners. True the idea of Evolu- 
tion was not for the first time broached in the “ Origin of 
Species.” But who, save Darwin, gave the unpopular doc- 
trine coherence ? Who collected the wonderful mass of 
evidence needed for its establishment, and won for it the 
general acceptance of the scientific world ? Darwin alone. 
Mr. A. R. Wallace, the co-discoverer of the hypothesis of 
“ Natural Selection,” not merely admits, but avows, Dar- 
win’s superior claim. Where Buffon, Lamarck, and his 
own grandfather Erasmus failed to carry the world with 
them, he has succeeded. Hence, according to the invariable 
rule which awards the palm not to the suggester, but to the 
establisher of a truth, Charles Darwin must be hailed as the 
founder of the New Natural History. 
Of his caution, his conscientiousness in laying before the 
world all faCts opposed to his own theories, everyone must 
be fully aware. He was often his own most formidable op- 
ponent, and his gainsayers, with characteristic truthfulness, 
would pick certain passages out of his works, and parade 
them, detached from their connection, as proofs not of 
candour, but of vacillation or inconsistency ! 
With respeCt to the long delay in the appearance of the 
“ Descent of Man,” Darwin has been charged with reticence 
verging almost upon insincerity. The accusation does not, 
to me, appear warranted. Our great naturalist was one of 
the most circumspect of theorists. Even the “ Origin of 
Species ” was long kept back, while the author was accu- 
mulating further evidence and weighing its import. It is 
therefore, in my opinion, only natural that he should show 
the same circumspection on taking a second step, which, if 
