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UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, FEB. 12.

PROFESSOR POULTON ON "DARWINISM."

To commemorate the centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, Professor Vines, Professor Poulton, and Professor Bourne gave an "At Home" to the University in the Examination Schools, Oxford, this evening. There was a large and distinguished gathering, including many heads of Houses, and four of Charles Darwin's sons—Mr. William Darwin, Professor Sir George Darwin, F.R.S., Mr. Francis Darwin, and Major Leonard Darwin (president of the Royal Geographical Society).

The guests were received at the head of the grand staircase by the three Professors, and conducted to places in the Lecture Room by six stewards—Mr. Geoffrey Smith (New College), Mr. E. P. Poulton (Balliol), Mr. Henry Moseley (Trinity), two grandsons of the late Professor T. H. Huxley (Mr. J. S. Huxley and Mr. N. T. Huxley, of Balliol), and Mr. R. C. Bourne (New College). Books, letters, &c., of Charles Darwin were shown by Mr. R. W. T. Günther (Magdalen).

In consequence of a domestic bereavement, the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. T. H. Warren) was unable to attend, and his place was taken by the Dean of Christ Church, pro Vice-Chancellor. A letter addressed to Professor Poulton was read from the Vice-Chancellor in which he expressed his disappointment at being prevented from taking part. Dr. Warren added:—

"I was looking forward very much to the pleasure of uniting with you and your brother professors in doing honour to the name and work of the very great man whose centenary it is, and of welcoming in Oxford the presence of no less than four of those sons who in our generation so well sustain the tradition of one of the most remarkable families that this or any country can show. May I say first that I feel very grateful, and I am sure Oxford is grateful, to you and your colleagues for conceiving and carrying out the idea of thus marking the day among us? If we cannot claim Darwin as in any sense a son, we have in Oxford special reason to claim and acclaim him as a father and mater of our scientific life and philosophical conceptions of to-day. It was in Oxford that amid heats and turmoils now happily long forgotten the then strange and startling ideas of the origin of species fought in 1860 one of the first of their struggles for existence. You will remember that just a decade later, in 1870, at the end of the long list of the illustrious names of those whom the new Chancellor, Lord Salisbury, had selected to honour his installation by receiving honours at it, there was appended the note, 'the name of Charles Darwin, Esq., F.R.S., would have been included in the foregoing list, but he writes that his health is such that he could not withstand the fatigue and excitement of receiving an honorary degree.' His ideas, the fittest, the truest, the most operative of them, and how large they are, survive. It is no exaggeration to say that they have pervaded every ramification of thought and activity throughout the world."

PROFESSOR POULTON delivered an address on "Fifty Years of Darwinism," in the course of which he said the enthusiasm inspired by science in large part depended on the onward rush into the unknown. The call of the future was so imperative that there was little temptation to listen to the past. Yet there were occasions when the scientific man would gain most inspiration and guidance and hope by pausing and looking back. And if ever this was true, it was true to-day on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. When they attempted to trace the chief influences which helped to mould the mind of Charles Darwin, the following stood out as preeminent:—The intimacy with Henslow at Cambridge and its outcome, the voyage of the Beagle ; the study of Lyell's "Principles of Geology"; the long friendship with Hooker and with Lyell himself. The later friendship with Asa Gray and Huxley was

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also of the highest importance in relation to the "Origin of Species" and its reception. Although the effect of Lyell's teaching had always been recognized as of immense significance and importance, there was evidence in the most recently published correspondence that it was even greater than had been supposed. From time to time during the long 20 years of labour which followed Darwin's discovery of Natural Selection in 1838, the "coming events" of 1858 and 1859 seemed to have "cast their shadows before." Thus an echo of Darwin's thought might perhaps be heard in the struggle for life and the succession of types so finely told in Tennyson's noble poem, "In Memoriam" (1849); and they were informed in " Father and Son" that Philip Gosse's "Omphalos " (1857) was an indirect result of the same cause.

WALLACE AND DARWIN.

New light had been gained by the Linnean Society's 50th anniversary of the publication of "Natural Selection" (July 1, 1858)—a publication which almost immediately followed Darwin's reception (June 18) of Wallace's letter from the Moluccas containing an account of the theory independently discovered by him. It appeared at the anniversary last July that the election of a member of Council and Vice-President, in consequence of the death of the eminent botanist, Robert Brown, was the cause of the meeting's being prolonged beyond the end of the summer session of 1858, thus giving the opportunity for the publication of the Darwin-Wallace essay some months earlier than would otherwise have been possible. At the 50th anniversary of this epoch- making day two out of the four chief actors of July 1, 1858, were presented and spoke—Alfred Russel Wallace and Sir Joseph Hooker. The central motive of Wallace's address was to protest against the too great credit which, as he believed, had been accorded to him, and to establish Darwin's unique position "as the sole and undisputed discoverer and patient investigator of the great law of 'natural selection' in all its far-reaching consequences."

A REVOLUTION IN THOUGHT.

The "Origin of Species" was published, and the whole edition of 1,250 copies exhausted, on November 24, 1859. Advance copies had been issued for review, and on November 19 the Athenaeum had committed the author to the tender mercies of the "Divinity Hall, the College, the lecture room, and the museum." Looking back on the controversy which immediately followed, the contrast between the maturity of the new views and the crudity of the attacks which were directed against them was remarkable in the history of science. On the one side were the 20 years of reflection and investigation by the greatest of naturalists; on the other the impressions of those who received the new views for the first time, and very imperfectly understood them. The mighty revolution in thought so speedily effected was aided in its course by the personality of the great author of the "Origin." He was a man for whom friends—and they were the ablest biologists of the day—strove more tenaciously than they would ever have done for themselves. Although so bitterly and unfairly attacked, he maintained "a rare and noble calmness," as G. H. Lewes expressed it, which helped his arguments to win over opposition. Although prevented by ill-health from coming much into contact with younger men, his correspondence showed an invariable patience and sympathy which could not fail to have given inspiration just when it was most needed, at the outset of many a career.

NEWTON AND DARWIN.

Comparing the effects produced upon thought by our two greatest scientific men, Professor Poulton observed that the world of 1686 which received the "Principia" was a very different world from that to which in 1859 was given the "Origin of Species." Newton's sublime discoveries were for the students of physical science and mathematics, and were slow in penetrating even these. It was far otherwise with the teachings of the "Origin." Every new creative thought which cut deep into the general heart of humankind" must bring when it came division and pain—not peace, but a sword. And now that the battle of evolution had long been over, the dominant feeling, as they looked back upon the past half-century, was of pathos even more than of triumph. In all the boundless realm of philosophy and science there was no thought which had carried with it so much of pain, but in the end not long delayed, so much of the joy which came of intellectual activity and effort, as the doctrine of organic evolution which must always be associated, first and foremost, with the name of Charles Darwin. (Cheers.)

SIR GEORGE DARWIN and Mr. FRANCIS DARWIN also briefly addressed the gathering.