Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/107

 THF. FROORES.< OF SCIENCE

��of <1ilT«retit uations in science, which and Lister. The; are fit represeiitativcK

woulii iletermine how it has changed in of the great men who gave distinction

ijuality, quantity and direction from to Great Britain in the Victorian era.


 * riod to i)eriod, and how far it has Of those men only Hooker held a seieii-

ilependeil on natural ability and bow tific position, and be too is typical of

far on social institutions. There is the aristocratic system, for he inherited some basis to assume that the smaller. not only his ability, but also his wealth,

Euio^-ran nations, Switzerland, Hoi- his title and the directorship of the

litnd aud the Si'.andinavian countries, Kew Botanical Gardens from his

hnve done remarkably well, that France father. Darwin is particularly notable

has fallen l)ehind Great Britain and as a representative of aristocratic and

<<erniBny, that Great Britain has had individualistic genius. He came from a

the greatest number of men of excep- family line manifesting great ability

tional performance, that Germany has and having ample wealth; he married

produced the largest number of com- a wife from a similar line and trans-

1-etent investigators and the best or- mitted to his children both ability and

^nization for research. wealth. He filled no position but did

There are here reproduced photo- his work while living as a country

grapbs of four plaques which have gentleman.

been unreiled in Westminster Abbey, It is doubtful whether again we shall

representing Darwin, Wallace, Hooker look on men like these. In Germany

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