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68 3 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
drown the delicate stream of reason.’’ He took one step in 
the service of truth—for at first he favoured the new 
ideas—and then he drew back in an agony, and accepted 
_ the servitude of error. .I mention this, because it is an 
undoubted picture of many another soul, and mirrors the 
mental distraction of thousands. I would emphasise the 
fact that this great movement was a British one; it has 
for ever altered the mental attitude to the world about 
us, and to the principles by which all seek to interpret 
it. No theories of Scriptural explanation but the ex- 
planation of natural phenomena by natural causes only, 
had come for good. We must acknowledge facts as they are 
revealed by the serious investigator, no matter how they 
may come in conflict with our most cherished superstitions. 
and I have endeavoured to show that the great hindrance 
to science through all the ages has been, on one hand, the 
superstitious dread. of its relation with unseen powers, the 
absence of means to correlate knowledge, and the extreme 
readiness to accept explanations which were not closely 
investigated and needed careful proof. 
The great revolution caused by Darwin,. Wallace, and 
- their contemporary Naturalists, is still too near to us to 
enable us to see it in a:true perspective, and to realise 
ifs marvellous influence. It threw open the gates of know- 
iedge to every fearless enquiring mind; it gave such an 
impetus to scientific research that we, still feeling the im- 
pulse of the movement, are not sufficiently detached to 
measure its effect. It is not yet possible to ‘realise the 
enormous influence of that great Naturalist movement. I 
wish, however, to point out that science has done infinitely 
more since that movement than in the previous 2,500 years. 
The influence of the new learning produced the great move- 
ment in Europe known to us as. the: ‘Renaissance, but I 
boldly assert that it is second in power and importance 
.to the momentous influence of the great Naturalists of the 
Victorian era, and am convinced that not. nearly suffi- 
cient emphasis is placed on the influence of this move- 
ment in our historical summary of the latter half of the 
19th century. Of one great change since then we are very 
conscious. From that great mental and philosophical 
change we have passed to an age of economic science. 
eSnionve to-day is associated with greater wealth, increased 
dividends and wider opportunities for pleasure, and 
