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MR. DARWIN AT CAMBRIDGE.

Last Saturday afternoon there was a special Congregation for the purpose of conferring the honorary degree of LL.D. upon Mr. Charles Darwin, M.A., Christ's College, the author of "The Origin of Species," "The Descent of man," &c. With the exception of the Doctors' gallery, Senate-house was densely crowded, and the proceedings were most animated throughout. The galleries set apart for undergraduates were so thronged that hundreds of the junior members of the academic body could not accommodated there and were permitted to swell the crowd of graduates, ladies, and others on the floor of the building. It was about two o'clock when Mr. Darwin, attired in Doctor's robes, and accompanied by the Master of Christ's College, entered the Senate-house by the side door. His appearance was the signal for flattering ovation, and partial silence had scarcely ensued when cheers were given for "primeval man." The entrance of a certain University official next attracted attention, and some curious interrogatories were addressed to Mr. Darwin, as to the ancestry of the gentleman in question. A couple of cords stretched from either gallery now became visible, presently there were affixed the effigy of a monkey in academicals and an object to illustrate the missing link. An effort was made on the part of one of the officials to get at the cords, but they were deftly passed away from where he stood, while he appeared to be completely shut in by the pres of undergraduates. One of the latter, about this time indulged in a song on the hero of the day, being a parody "The Leather Bottel," and, considering the humour in which the students were in, it was hardly surprising to hear the effort encored. The Vice-Chancellor then arrived, and was received with applause. Upon Dr. Atkinson taking his seat, Mr. Darwin was conducted by the Senior Bedell (Mr. A. P. Humphry) to the centre of the Senate-house, where the Public Orator (Mr. J. E. Sandys, St. John's) awaited him. This movement was the signal for another burst of cheering. The students now begun to move the cords towards the place where Mr. Darwin was standing, and the "missing link" safely arrive[d] there, and was kept suspended over Mr. Darwin's head until was actually "presented." The boy monkey, however, came to sudden grief, by slipping from the cord and dropping on to the floor of the house, where a scuffle ensued for its possession, the result being that it was no more seen. The Public Orator then began his Latin speech, and he is to be congratulated upon the success a of his effort, for although occasionally interrupted by students, the bulk of them showed a desire to hear the oration, and manifested their appreciation of it by the eagerness with which they took up and applauded the principal points. The good humour in which the speech was delivered, added to the fact that Orator was distinctly audible to all parts of the house, when there was silence, helped to ensure the success he achieved, and hearty applause greeted the conclusion of the oration, and presentation of Mr. Darwin the Vice- Chancellor. By the courtesy of Mr. Sandys, we are enabled to print the speech:—

"ORATIO AB ORATORE PUBLICO HABITA CANTABRIGIAE

DIE XVIIº NOVEMBRIS A. S. MDCCCLXXVII.

"DIGNISSIME domine, domine Procancellarie, et tota Academia:—

"Meministis Horatianum illud, 'fortes creantur fortibus'; vix igitur necesse est commemorare viri huius de rerum natura optime meriti patrem fuisse medicum egregium, avum poetam quoque insignem. 'Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam'; iuvat igitur recordari pueritiam huius fovisse scholam celeberrimam Salopiensem; adulescentiam aluisse non modo Caledonicas illas Athenas, sed in hac etiam Academia Miltoni nostri Collegium. Tanti in laudem alumni, nisi fallor, ipsa paterni fluminis nympha, non immemor hunc primum patefecisse insularum corallinarum originem, illa inquam Sabrina quae Miltoni in carmine vivit,

"curalio nitida roseum caput exseret unda,

"frontemque tam venerabilem sua praecinget corolla. Quanta cum voluptate accepimus insularum illarum circulos, sese e vadis sensim attollentes, quasi florum immortalium palmarumque victricium corona locos illos virides placidosque in Oceani campo designare, ubi priores insulae depressae et sepultae sunt. Quam facete describit, quo modo varios sensuum affectus exprimant indices illi vultus et ipsa tacitorum oculorum eloquentia; quo more apes, dum dulce illud nectar e flore delibant, quod continuandae floris stirpi utile sit, ipsae aliunde referant. Quam venuste explicat, quo modo captet Venus ipsa muscas; quali ex origine sint Veneris volucres, 'raucae, tua cura, palumbes'; quibus cantuum illecebris, quo splendore plumarum, concilientur volucrum amores. Quam familiariter, velut rex ille excellenti sapientia, de tot rebus disserit, quicquid volat, quicquid natat, quicquid serpit humi; quam varia eruditione disputat de fabuloso illo lepadum balanorumque marinorum genere, de montium igneorum miraculis, sed idem de gracili vitis pampino et lentis hederarum bracchiis in apricum enitentium; quanta liberalitate in patrocinium suum vindicat non modo 'aurea pavonum saecla', sed etiam minus pulchram simiarum familiam. Qua de re quanquam poeta vetus dixit, 'simia quam similis nobis'; nobis tamen, viri Academici, cum oratore Romano, viro Academicae praesertim philosophiae dedito, gloriari licet, 'mores' esse 'in utroque dispares.'

"Illud certe extra omnem controversiam constat, pulchrum esse tantam rerum naturae varietatem contemplari, regiones remotas invisere, silvarum incaeduarum solitudinem penetrare, insularum prope ignotarum recessus perscrutari, varias denique animalium formas comparare inter se et distinguere; pulchrius, haec omnia accuratissime observata aliorum in usum voluptatemque litterarum mandare monumentis; omnium pulcherrimum, infinita talium rerum multitudine ad leges quam paucissimas revocata, ipsum fontem et originem omnium repetere. Quanta igitur laude vir hic dignus est, qui adhuc iuvenis, aliorum magis quam suo commodo, tot terras lustraverit, lustratas feliciter descripserit; qui maturiore aetate, tot generibus animatium et earum rerum quas terra gignit diligenter investigatis, illi praesertim legi constituendae operam dederit, qua docere conatus est, ita e perpetuo prope ad internecionem debellantium certamine aptissimam quamque novae stirpi propagandae speciem vivam victricemque superesse, ut tot species inter se diversae alia ex alia minutatim per immensam annorum seriem generai potuerint.

"Usus et impigrae simul experientia mentis

paulatim docuit pedetemtim progredientes.

sic unumquicquid paulatim protrahit aetas

in medium ratioque in luminis erigit oras.

namque alid ex alio clarescere et ordine debet

omnibus, ad summum donec venere cacumen.'

"Tu vero, qui leges naturae tam docte illustraveris, legum doctor nobis esto.

"Duco ad vos CAROLUM DARWIN."

It give the general reader an idea of the speech we have procured the following:—

The PUBLIC ORATOR began his oration by quoting the Horatian motto, Fortes creantur fortibus, and referring to Mr. Darwin's ancestry as an example to the law of hereditary genius. With the further quotation Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam, allusions were introduced to his places of education—first, "the famous school of Shrewsbury," next "the Athens of the North," and, at Cambridge, the College of Milton." In honour of so distinguished a son, he continued, we may almost fancy that the nymph of his home-stream, Sabrina, who is immortalized in Milton's verse, remembering he was the first to unfold the story of the Isles of Coral, which haply "raise her rosy head, from her coral-paven bed," and crown his grey hairs with her own corolla. How delightful the discovery that the ring of each coral atoll, when it has slowly risen from the waves, marks at last with (as it were) a crown of immortelles and palms of victory, the green and quiet spot in the plains of ocean which is the resting place of a buried island. After referring in appropriate terms to Mr. Darwin's works on the "Expression of the Emotions," on the Fertilization of Flowers, on insectivorous plants, on the variation of animals under domestication, and in particular to his favourite pigeons (raucae, tua cura, palumbes), and also alluding to the part played in nature by the love songs of birds and the splendour of their plumage, the Orator dwelt on Mr. Darwin's varied learning, on his discoursing on all that flies, or swims, or creeps, on the shells of the barnacles fertile in legend, and on the marvels of volcanic mountains, without, however, forgetting "the tiny tendril of the vine or the clinging arms of the ivy struggling upwards to the light." Having touched lightly on "The Descent of Man" by quoting the words of Ennius, Simia quam similis nobis, with Cicero's rejoinder, "At mores in utroque dispares, the Orator passed from the region of controversy into an encomium of Mr. Darwin's earlier contributions to the literature of travel, and especially on his universally popular work on the "Voyage of the Beagle." The closing sentence of the speech proper was devoted to the "Origin of Species," the "Struggle for Existence," the "Survival of the Fittest," which was followed by an adaptation to the theory of evolution by a passage in Lucretius, originally referring to the slow and gradual development of the arts of civilization.

Mr. Darwin was then admitted to the Degree of LL.D. (honoris causa) by the Vice-Chancellor, and the proceedings terminated.

The conduct of the undergraduates has been the subject of some comment, and that it has not met with universal condemnation may be gathered from the following:—

The Times correspondent says: "The conduction of the undergraduates was throughout the proceedings most disorderly. They yelled, sang comic songs, blew horns, and caused an incessant din by their persistent interruptions. Their idea of humour consisted in suspending across the galleries the effigy of a monkey, clad in academical costume. The Public Orator, in presenting Mr. Darwin, was at first received with partial silence, and it was hoped he would have been allowed a hearing; but after the first two or three sentences the interruptions were continuous, consisting of such inane observations as, "Cut it short," "Construe," "False quantity."

Nature says "the inevitable pastime of the undergraduates assumed a form extremely appropriate, however questionable its taste may have been."

The Rock says: "The crowd on the whole was sympathetic, but the proceedings were interrupted by a practical joke devised by certain undergraduates, who managed to introduce a stuffed monkey, tricked out in academic costume, in compliment to the eminent savant who professes to have discovered our ancestors among the Satyrs and Cercopitheci. No doubt the affair has its ludicrous side, though a believer will scarcely regard the honour paid to the apostle of Evolution as by any means a laughing matter. At the same time it is a noteworthy fact that the theory of our ape-origin is losing ground."

The Echo remarks: "We have all an interest in our ancestors, but some of the Cambridge undergraduates have taken an extraordinarily candid mode of proving their descent. On Saturday Mr Darwin had conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. by the University, of which he is a member. The undergraduates, however, suspended the effigy of a monkey across the Senate-house, admirably got up in academical costume, and presenting a remarkable resemblance to an undergraduate. The young gentlemen who designed the effigy unconsciously described themselves with an accuracy that was charming. Another genius elevated a "missing link" right over Mr. Darwin's head. The link missing was the inbred courtesy of the English gentleman, but the world always was, and will be, more amused than hurt by the antics of monkeys."

The Sportsman observes: Dr. Darwin contends that men are descended from apes. Unfortunately for his argument, it happens that in the chain of evidence which he has unwound in support of his theory there is a link wanting, and unless that missing link can be discovered he and his followers will be forced to rest their conclusions upon circumstantial evidence. Science, however, is proverbially patient, and there is every probability that professors of the Darwinian theory of the descent of man may in course of time be able to adduce such an accumulation of indirect evidence as shall satisfy the most sceptical. The University of Cambridge having decided to honour itself by conferring the honorary degree of LL.D. upon Mr. Darwin, a number of notabilities assembled in the Senate-house on Saturday to witness the ceremony, and to listen to the Latin oration of Mr. Sandys, the public orator. While the man of years and learning was being rewarded for a lifetime of anxious, studious labour, and whilst the dons of the University were endeavouring to the best of their ability to give an air of dignity to the occasion, the students in the gallery suspended the monkey and "missing link" as already described. "If (continues our contemporary)—"if the clever young monkeys in the galleries could have known what was passing through the mind of the hero of the hour they would have understood the smile of triumph that kindled in his eye and curled his lip with good-humoured scorn. There, in the supreme moment of his career, the scoffers who in their mischievous anxiety to cast ridicule upon his labours in the cause of science forgetting the politeness due to ladies, and the respect demanded for their superiors, added another item of circumstantial evidence in support of his theory of the descent of man."

On Saturday evening the anniversary dinner of the Cambridge Philosophical Society was given in the Hall of Clare College. The President of the Society, Prof. Living, occupied the chair, and among the visitors present were Professors Huxley, Ramsay, Tyndall, and Humphry, Mr. Francis Galton, and other eminent scientific men connected with the University, as well as others who had come from a distance. Mr. Darwin was unable to be present, and in his absence the toast of his health was responded to by Professor Huxley, who spoke of him as the foremost among the men of science, with one exception, since the days of Aristotle.

A meeting of resident members of the University is to be held at 3 o'clock on Monday, 26th Nov., to consider the best form for a memorial to Mr. Charles Darwin in his own University. The meeting will be held in the Combination Room of Christ's College (of which Mr. Darwin is a member), by the kind consent of the Master and Fellows.