The divergence of views among biologists in regard to the origin of species and as to the most promising directions in which to seek for truth is illustrated by the different opinions of contributors. Whether Darwin's views on the modus operandi of evolutionary forces receive further confirmation in the future, or whether they are materially modified, in no way affects the truth of the statement that, by employing his life "in adding a little to Natural Science," he revolutionised the world of thought. Darwin wrote in 1872 to Alfred Russel Wallace: "How grand is the onward rush of science: it is enough to console us for the many errors which we have committed, and for our efforts being overlaid and forgotten in the mass of new facts and new views which are daily turning up." In the onward rush, it is easy for students convinced of the correctness of their own views and equally convinced of the falsity of those of their fellow-workers to forget the lessons of Darwin's life. In his autobiographical sketch, he tells us, "I have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved...as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it." Writing to Mr J. Scott, he says, "It is a golden rule, which I try to follow, to put every fact which is opposed to one's preconceived opinion in the strongest light. Absolute accuracy is the hardest merit to attain, and the highest merit. Any deviation is ruin."
He acted strictly in accordance with his determination expressed in a letter to Lyell in 1844, "I shall keep out of controversy, and just give my own facts." As was said of another son of Cambridge, Sir George Stokes, "He would no more have thought of disputing about priority, or the authorship of an idea, than of writing a report for a company promoter." Darwin's life affords a striking confirmation of the truth of Hazlitt's aphorism, "Where the pursuit of truth has been the habitual study of any man's life, the love of truth will be his ruling passion." Great as was the intellect of Darwin, his character, as Huxley wrote, was even nobler than his intellect.
A.C. SEWARD.
Botany School, Cambridge, March 20, 1909.
CONTENTS
[ DATES OF THE PUBLICATION Of CHARLES DARWIN'S BOOKS AND OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN HIS LIFE ]
[ II. DARWIN'S PREDECESSORS. By J. Arthur Thomson. ]
[ III. THE SELECTION THEORY, By August Weismann. ]
[ IV. VARIATION. By HUGO DE VRIES. ]
[ V. HEREDITY AND VARIATION IN MODERN LIGHTS. By W. Bateson, M.A., F.R.S. ]
[ VI. THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF CELLS IN RELATION TO HEREDITY. By Eduard Strasburger. ]
[ VII. "THE DESCENT OF MAN". By G. Schwalbe. ]
[ VIII. CHARLES DARWIN AS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST. By Ernst Haeckel. ]
[ X. THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN ON THE STUDY OF ANIMAL EMBRYOLOGY. By A. Sedgwick, M.A., F.R.S. ]
[ XI. THE PALAEONTOLOGICAL RECORD. By W.B. Scott. ]
[ XII. THE PALAEONTOLOGICAL RECORD. By D.H. Scott, F.R.S. ]
[ XIII. THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON THE FORMS OF PLANTS. By Georg Klebs, PH.D. ]
[ XV. THE VALUE OF COLOUR IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. By E.B. Poulton. ]
[ XVII. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. By Hans Gadow, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S. ]
[ XVIII. DARWIN AND GEOLOGY. By J.W. Judd, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S. ]
[ XIX. DARWIN'S WORK ON THE MOVEMENTS OF PLANTS. By Francis Darwin, ]
[ XX. THE BIOLOGY OF FLOWERS. By K. Goebel, Ph.D. ]
[ XXI. MENTAL FACTORS IN EVOLUTION. By C. Lloyd Morgan, LL.D., F.R.S. ]
[ XXII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE CONCEPTION OF EVOLUTION ON MODERN PHILOSOPHY. By H. Hoffding. ]
[ XXIII. DARWINISM AND SOCIOLOGY. By C. Bougle. ]
[ XXIV. THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN UPON RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. By P.N. Waggett, M.A., S.S.J.E. ]
[ XXV. THE INFLUENCE OF DARWINISM ON THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS. By Jane Ellen Harrison. ]
[ XXVI. EVOLUTION AND THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE. By P. Giles, M.A., LL.D. (Aberdeen), ]
[ XXVII. DARWINISM AND HISTORY. By J.B. Bury, Litt.D., LL.D. ]
[ XXVIII. THE GENESIS OF DOUBLE STARS. By Sir George Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S. ]
[ XXIX. THE EVOLUTION OF MATTER. By W.C.D. Whetham, M.A., F.R.S. ]