Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-12
THE JUBILEE OF DARW|NISM
FIFTY YEARS SINCE BIRTH OF
NATURAL SELECTION THEORY.
Opposition Aroused by Publicat ton
of Work on "The Tendencies
of Species"
Edward cIudd. in the London Chronicle.

Edward cludd. in the London Chronicle
Fifty years ago a company of savants
assembled at the Linnean Society to hear
d paper which bore the somewhat dry
title "On the Tendencies of Species to
Form Varieties. and on the Perpetuation
of Species and Varieties by Natural Sc
lection
a certain spice of romance was import
ed into the occasion by the runor that
two eminent naturalists, thousands of
miles apart had hit independently on the
solution of problem hich had baff1ed.
inquiry from the time about a century
and half that doubts We're thrown on
traditional beliefs. fortified by Scripture,
in the special creation of the myriad
species of plants and animals.
The Quest.
The solution had not been reached
per saltum": no great discovery has thus
belied the doctrine of evolution: hence.
the history of the stages by which mat
ural selection" arrived at the goal is one
of slow pursuit, caution and revision.
The way for its acceptance has been pre-
pared by many pioneer workers, most
notable of all Herbert Spencer: and al
though he and others knew it not two
men, one as far back as 1913 in a paper
ION white woman. part of whose skin
was black and another, in 1881. in
book on NAVAL Timber had adum-
brated theory the simplicity of which
propounded it: "HoN extremely stupid
not to have thought of that
While broOding on the question Darwin
read the Rev. Thomas Nautilus Essay
on the Principle of Population wherein
is refuted the superficial notion that 'in
sending mouths Providence sends food
to fill them" Nautilus shows that the
means of existence do not increase in
the same ratio as the number of mouths.
and therefore that in the inevitably re-
sulting struggle for life the weakest go
to the wall Consequently a check is
imposed on the increase.
Here Darwin found a theory by which
to work. He applied 1t to the whole
organic kingdom. Everything varies;
even two peas are unlike and any
favorable variation equips it's possessor
for victory in the ceaseless struggle for
existence. In these variations (the causes
of which remain Obscure) there are the
factors on which natural selection acts in
the production of new species. the devel-
opment of the most primitive life forms
of time.
Coincidence and Opposition.
The theory took shape in 1898 and there
followed twenty years of patient observa-
ton and sitting of material as test of its
validity. Heedful only of truth and heed
less of fame, narH in would have contn-
ued pursuit of his work in quiet but d
bolt from the blue forced his hand In
June, 1858, DIR. Alfred Wallace (happiIy
still with us) Sent him from the Malay
archipelago paper in which the theory
of natural selection was set forth in
terms so identical that Darwin said to
Lyel: IF Wallace had my MS. sketch
written in 1912 he could not have made
a better abstract And 1t is a further
curious coincidence that DR.. Wallace was
also led ito think of positive checks by
reading Parson Nautilus, who, if he has
no place IN the Lives of the Saints"
should be accorded one in the "Hagiology
of Science"
questions as to priority of discovery
have been too often occasion of unseemly
dispute but in this case no petty rival
RES had play Darwin approved a sug-
eestlon by Sir Joseph Hooker (Who yes
terday entered his ninety second Year,
and Lyell that an abstract of his MS.
together with DR. Wallace's paper should
be read before the Linnean Society
The subject aroused excitement but
ton, and while there were two or three
converts there We're many doubters
Neither these nor the outside world
could foresee what mOmentous results
affecting every department of inquiry
and every attitude of man toward his
surroundings and himself. would follow
the publication of the Origin of Species"
in 1859. For the outcome was not re-
adjustment so much as revolution. Old
things were to pass away: all things
Were to become new.
The first man outside the circle of
Darwin's intimates to accept the theory
was Canon TriStram, a distinguished
ornithOlOgiSt, and, in unenviable con-
traSt, the famous anatomiSt Sir Rich
ard Owen, was among the earliest of
Darwin's opponents. He attacked the
book in the Edinburgh Review, and in
spired Bishop Wilberforce's onslaught
in the Quarterly, wherein natural Sc
lection" was declared to be ''incom-
patible with the word of God" Cardi-
nal Manning denounced 1T as IA brutal
philosophy; Carlyle echoed this in his
special vernacular: Sir John HerSchel
called it the law of higgledy -piggledy" !;
Prof Adam Sedgwick mourned over it
as false and mischievous, but hoped
Ito meet Darwin in heaven, WheWell
refused the book place in Trinity
College library, and the attitude of a
section of the press is shown in the
Daily Telegraph making Prof Fawcett's
approving review of the Origin rea-
son for advising the Southwark electors
not to return him to parliament An
odd example of the lingering prejudice
is supplied in the withdrawal OF his
balance from Martins Bank by GUS
toner because one of the partners at
tended Darwins funeral.