It was really a singular piece of good luck that gave to me any
share whatever in the discovery. During the first half of the
nineteenth century (and even earlier) many great biological
thinkers and workers had been pondering over the problem and had
even suggested ingenious but inadequate solutions. Some of these
men were among the greatest intellects of our time, yet, till
Darwin, all had failed; and it was only Darwin's extreme desire to
perfect his work that allowed me to come in, as a very bad second,
in the truly Olympian race in which all philosophical biologists,
from Buffon and Erasmus Darwin to Richard Owen and Robert
Chambers, were more or less actively engaged.
And this brings me to the very interesting question: Why did so
many of the greatest intellects fail, while Darwin and myself hit
upon the solution of this problem--a solution which this
Celebration proves to have been (and still to be) a satisfying one
to a large number of those best able to form a judgment on its
merits? As I have found what seems to me a good and precise answer
to this question, and one which is of some psychological interest,
I will, with your permission, briefly state what it is.
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