Order of the proceedings at the Darwin celebration held at Cambridge, June 22-June 24, 1909 : with a sketch of Darwin's life.
- University of Cambridge
- Date:
- 1909
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Order of the proceedings at the Darwin celebration held at Cambridge, June 22-June 24, 1909 : with a sketch of Darwin's life. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![“ Those who have watched the progress of science within the last ten years will bear me out to the full, when I assert that there is no field of biological inquiry in which the influence of the Origin of Species is not traceable.” It is interesting to find that of the sixty scientific societies of which Darwin was an honorary member, only 15, or one quarter, elected him before 1870. As to the magnitude of the change in public opinion Mr Huxley wrote in 1887 : “ The contrast between the present condition of public opinion upon the Darwinian question; between the estimation in which Darwin’s views are now held in the scientific world ; between the acquiescence, or at least quiescence, of the theologians of the self-respecting order at the present day and the outburst of antagonism on all sides in 1858-9, when the new theory respecting the origin of species first became known to the older generation to which I belong, is so startling that, except for documentary evidence, I should be sometimes inclined to think my memories dreams.” 1865 Read a paper before the Linnean Society “ On the Movements and Habits of Climbing plants.” (Published as a book in 1875.) 1866 Publication of the fourth edition of the Origin (1250 copies). 1867 Received the Prussian Order “ Pour le M^rite.” 1868 Publication of the Variation of Animals and Plants under Domesti- cation. “About my book I will give you [Sir Joseph Hooker] a bit of advice. Skip the whole of Vol. i., except the last chapter (and that need only be skimmed) and skip largely in the 2nd volume; and then you will say it is a very good book.” 1869 Publication of the fifth edition of the Origin. 1871 Publication of The Descent of Man. “Although in the Origin of Species the derivation of any particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by the work in question ‘light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history. “ Darwin’s work in regard to the descent of man has not been sur- passed ; the more we immerse ourselves in the study of the structural relationships between apes and man, the more is our path illumined by the clear light radiating from him, and through his calm and deliberate investi- gation, based on a mass of material in the accumulation of which he has](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2898383x_0045.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
