76
The Presidential Address.
Prof. Huxley, indeed, became so zealous a champion that he
diverted on to his own head some of the vials of wrath
that had been prepared for Mr. Darwin, and by his able
exposition of the doctrine of development contributed to no
small extent in securing its firm establishment in our
country.9 But while the battle for truth was going on here,
on the Continent, and more especially in Germany, the new
doctrines were received and discussed with even greater
warmth and enthusiasm. A school of the most able
naturalists rallied round the Darwinian standard, their zeal
often carrying them beyond the bounds of that prudence and
caution displayed by their leader. More than once, as
Darwin told me on one occasion, has he had to privately
chide his too zealous adherents. Foremost amongst those
who have taken the greatest part in promulgating and
contributing to Darwinism in Germany stands the name of
Prof. Ernst Haeckel, of Jena; and work of the highest order
of importance has been contributed also by Prof. Carl Vogt,
Moritz Wagner, Prof. August Weismann, G. Th. Fechner, the
brothers Fritz and Hermann Muller, Prof. Oscar Schmidt,
and others ; whilst from the philosophical side the theory has
been most ably expounded by Frederick Albert Lange.10
The rapid spread of the Darwinian theory among those
most competent to form a true estimate of its value soon
made itself felt in the field of biological literature, and many
works of lasting importance to scientific knowledge appeared
as living witnesses to the vitality of the doctrine. Specialists
in every department of biology contributed materials, and
indeed many workers on the Continent became specialists
with the express object of testing the vitality of the views
advanced in the 'Origin of Species.' "From the hour of its
9 The advocacy of those who—like Prof. Tyndall, W. (now Sir William)
E. Grove, and the late lamented Prof. W. K. Clifford—spoke from the
ranks of physical rather than of natural science, did great service in
promoting the cause of evolution among the wider circles of the general
public.
10 ' Geschichte des Materialismus,' 3rd ed., 1877, vol. ii. Eng. Trans-
lation by E. Chester Thomas, vol. iii., 1881, chap. iv.