criticism I may incur, the profession which I hereby make of reverence and affection for our University, and of true sympathy with those who to-day carry on her manifold labours, will be accepted as no mere formal statement, but as the expression of a deep-rooted sentiment.
It is a pleasure to me, at this moment, to call to mind my friendship with the gifted man who founded this lectureship, and to join my tribute with that of so many others, to his high qualities. The knowledge of Nature lost a true and eager searcher when his labours ceased.
1. Choice of a Subject.
In choosing a subject for the discourse which it is my privilege to deliver to-day, I have ventured to select one which has largely occupied the attention of biologists during the five and forty years in which I have followed the results of scientific discovery. The title which describes it must, I fear, seem unduly ambitious since Nature and Man comprise well-nigh every topic with which such a discourse can deal. My desire, however, is more modest than my advertisement. It has become more and more a matter of conviction to me—and I believe that I share that conviction with a large body of fellow students both in this country and other civilized states—that the time has arrived when the true relation of Nature to Man has been so clearly ascertained that it should be more generally known than is at present the case, and that this knowledge should form far more largely than it does at this moment, the object of human activity and endeavour-
